Salem Witch Trials-The Truth

Salem witch trials, sound familiar to you? This was the event than happened in the year 1692 where a lot of women were accused as being witches. It happened in a town called Salem, England. Those women were detained in prison and later brought before the magistrates where the trials were held. Witchcraft has always been considered as evil in many cultures so was the European's. These accused women would then be sentenced to death where the common way of dying was to be burned at stake or hanged to death. The men will lit the fire and watch the accused women burned alive, screaming for the piercing pain, pleading for mercy and finally, what was left were the remains of dead innocent women. Ever since then, the people have been aware and advise their children not to go out at night for fear of witches. However, after more than 300 years, the scientists finally revealed the truth to these so-called-witches. No magic was involved but just a minute organism, Claviceps purpurea, a kind of fungus. When I learned about Claviceps in my last sem in the course of Fundamentals of Microbiology, I was amazed and shocked to see how this fungus brought about an influential superstitious and claimed the lives of many innocent women. Yes, this fungus infects human and when humans are infected, the medical condition is termed ergot poisoning. Humans with ergot poisoning will have common symptoms-throw up and hysteria. Unfortunately, this was what the Salem people saw as witches behaviour. The women behaved the same and had hysteria. Back then, Claviceps infected the grain and this grain was made as rye bread, a common food for the Salems. Many women had this bread for their meals and the ergot poisoning spread among the women which many saw it as a spread of withcraft. These patients were wrongly accused and were sentenced to death despite suffering from ergot poisoning. The cruel act and highly superstitious people back then made me realized that the lack of knowledge really condemn one to damnation. The belief of witches existence lasted for centuries and even now, people still believe witches exist. Let me tell you, you have been conned and the one who conned and also blinded us for centuries is actually something that you cant even see-a fungus.

                                                The examination of an accused 'witch'

                                                    The burning of 'witches' at stake

                                             Accused 'witches' were hanged to death

Midvalley Megamall

Went to Midvalley Megamall with my roommate, Seng Zian and his friend, Qian Wei. All 3 of us agreed to meet up as FST aka Faculty of Science and Technology. Reached Midvalley around 1pm and we headed for our lunch. Seng Zian had not have his breakfast and decided to have brunch instead. I lead them to The Gardens where we ordered porridge for our lunch. Zian and Wei praised the delicacy and said it was healthy. It is indeed. The purpose of me going to Midvalley was to buy a pair of new shoes and also a solution to immerse my contact lenses. Went over to Adidas shop and the shoes were out of my budget and thus, we went to New Balance. The brand strongly recommended by Zian because he is now wearing NB shoes. A pair of brown shoes caught my attention and when I tried them on, really match me. The promoter even grinned at said they look nice on you. A typical statement a promoter would made, I said to myself. However, I really find that shoes nice and comfortable to wear so, with MYR 159, I bought the shoes without hesitations. After that went over to Watson to buy the solution and in just an hur or so, I had my stuffs bought. Wei and Zian suggested to play snooker and so, there we went. We played for only one round and as amateurs, we just simply hit the snooker balls for the sake of fun. Then, we went over to Snowflakes and ordered 3 bowls of Grass Jelly Bestseller. Kinda nice but the taste was simply plain and not that bombastic. Haha. During our cruise, we saw 3 stars. 2 locals and one Singaporean. The Singaporean was Chen Han Wei, a Mediacorp actor. He was wearing sunglasses, a cap and sleeveless black shirt. I noticed and recognized him at the first glance. Then the other 2 local stars were Lee Ming Shun's brother, Lee Ming Zhong and his girlfriend Aenie. I did not go and ask them for signature. First, Im not their big fan and secondly, I respect them to have their own privacy. After hours of walking, we found it bored and went over to the Shilin Street Stall, had XXL Crispy Chicken for snacks before heading back. On our way back, we saw a gay couple near the Midvalley exit. One had brownish hair and another was wearing glasses, quite fair. The spec-wearing guy was placing his fingers on the mouth of the brown hair guy. We managed to eavesdrop when we passed.

Brown guy: "Okay, I promised you I wont cry. Love you"
Spec guy : "Love you"

We looked at each other, shocked to see them so daring to confess their love in the public. Zian seemed to be disturbed by the scene. Haha, i think he felt disgusted. Alright, thats all for now. Signing off, readers.

My Mother

Hello everyone, Im back again to my very blog. This time I will blog about my mother. This year's Mother's Day falls on 13th of May, the second Sunday of the month. I have lovely parents and I will blog about my father next time. I have a very dedicated and loving mother. Our age gap is 30 years and she is 51 years old this year. My mother told me the story of her younger days, how she started to work and how she met my father. My mother is the second child out of 8 children. She has an elder sister, 2 younger sisters and 4 younger brothers. Raised in Sitiawan, Perak, my maternal grandparents were poor and they lived in a wooden small house. My maternal grandfather used to own a coffee shop but later closed it. He went to work in the flour factory near Segari and support the family. My grandmother is a kind and loving lady. She raised the children with discipline. To meet dead ends, she worked in the rubber estates to earn extra income. My mother had her primary education only and so was my eldest aunt. Being elder sisters, my maternal grandmother took both of them to work in the estates. My mother did not complain for not receiving enough education as she knew, she has 6 other siblings to raise. As early as 12 or 13 years old, she would follow my grandmother and aunt to the estate before the sun rose to tap rubber trees. She helped out the household chores when she got back from the estate, she would help to cook and took care of the younger siblings. The work in estate lasted for a few years and when she was 18 years old, she decided to go work in the city. She had been working in many sectors so she is a very experience lady. She worked in the fabric factory in the day and learned how to sew clothes at night. She stayed in the hostel provided and made some friends. Her determination to earn money did not stop in the factory. She looked for part time job to work in the weekends too. She had been a waitress in a restaurant and learned some tricks in beauty center too. She later graduated in the school of tailoring and proficient in sewing clothes. All these works were done in Ipoh, my birthplace. She went to KL to work for 2 years too. She told me that she became a housekeeper and also a babysitter in a kinda-wealthy family. However, she did not like the life in KL and decided to go back to Ipoh before continuing where she left off. In her stay in Ipoh, she had a few gal friends and those friends had a few male friends. One of those male friends was my father. Handsome and suave. My mother was pretty too, giving birth to 3 beautiful sisters. Its not that I exaggerated but my paternal grandmother once told me that my mother was beautiful and there were a few men wanted to date her but she turned them down. My maternal grandmother wanted my mother to attend speed dating with guys in her village-fishermen, rubber tappers etc but my mother insisted of finding her own love. Then, she found my father. They started out as friends and later got attracted to each other. My father would ask her to go for movies and brisk walk, often fetching her with his motorcycle. They dated for a mere 1 year. One day, my father suddenly asked my mother...

Father:"Lets get married"
Mother:"Okay"

You see, the proposal was not as romantic as you see in the movies, my father just said it brief and crystal clear and my mother's answer was direct too. When two people already love each other and knew they are life partners for each other, no sweet talk or romantic proposal were needed. They both knew they are right for each other so why talk more? Then, they both got married at the age of 25. My mother lived with my paternal family after they got married and had my eldest sister, Kay. After 3 years, my second sister, Yen. Then my father and paternal grandfather were offered a job in Sitiawan. They moved to Sitiawan to stay for months. My parents and my sisters stayed in my maternal grandparents' house while my paternal grandfather insisted on renting a house nearby to stay. After that, they moved back to Ipoh and my mother suggested to move out of the paternal house they were staying as the family members were growing. Looked everywhere and finally decided to settle down in Bercham. Bercham back then was a remote area. My house used to face a large field, infested with crickets and toads that sound so loud at night. Now Bercham turned into a busy center. During the first year stay in the new house, my mother had me. When she went for ultra sound, the doctor told her the baby was a girl. SWEAT!!!!!!! Therefore, everyone in the family expected a girl on the date of my arrival! Thus, on 3rd June 1991, my mother was on labour. She gave birth to me in Poliklinik Hospital Ipoh. The nurse who carried me told my parents that I am a boy. Both were shocked. Thus, I became the only grandson in the Yip family before the arrival of another 2  male cousins by my 2 uncles respectively. 2 years later, my mother had my youngest sister, Eloise and he told my father she did not wanna conceive anymore. The member of six live happily under the same roof in Bercham until all children reach their adulthood. My mother had been sewing clothes for tailor shops in Ipoh to help my father raise us. My father would work from morning until evening every weekdays. Thanks to them, we grew happily and healthy. My parents always told us that education is very important and since they could not have it in their younger days, they want us to succeed in education. She always tell us that without education, we would have to work hard in life. They want us to live in ease. All parents in the world love their children with their heart. Before i end, I would like to say Happy Mother's Day to my mother. Thank you and I will always choose you and father as my parents in my future lives.

 My parents, happily together for 26 years already...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

New Tune Live Performance XV

I just came back from a great concert organized by New Tune, a musical group in UKM. My roommate, Zian went to the gym with me before that. We worked out for almost 2 hours before hitting the shower and went for dinner. Made our way to the grand hall, DECTAR just at the back of our hostel and a walking distance too. Saw quite a number of people turning up. The reason for me to watch this concert was that 2 of my friends were involved, Francis and Grace. We waited anxiously at the main entrance, waiting for the arrival of other friends. Rebecca miscalled me and when I return her call, she told me she had arrived. Zian and I went separately to sit with our coursemates but ended up, Zian and his mates sat in the front row from ours. Shortly after that, Jonathan joined us and Ong and Edwin reached the hall. Edwin asked me to lead him the way to the place we sat so I did. The guest of honour invited was Ong Tee Keat, the former MCA president. Several other universities sent their representatives to attend this concert, building up mutual respect among local universities. The universities were Malaya University, Malaysia Putra University and Multimedia University. The crowd was mixed with outsiders and UKM students. As we had expected, the performance started only after speeches were given. We were first greeted by dance performance and the dance was amazing. The maneuver was uniform and creative. From the performances, I could see that some people I know got involved and I never thought they could sing, dance and even play musical instruments. Thus, never judge a book by its cover. Francis was the guitarist and he performed in 8 shows. He look handsome and suave when he played guitar, charmed the audience especially the females. Francis is a good-looking lad and add to his music talent, he was full of charisma. The performances had the singer as the center of attention but my attention turned to Francis. I was proud to tell my friends that Francis is my friend. Then, it was Grace's time to perform. She composed the song herself, entitled 'The Last Summer' and both Edwin and I were thrilled to see her performing on the stage. Suits her name, she was full of grace when she sang, played guitar at the same time. Both Edwin and I waved our glowing sticks in the air to support her. Jonathan and Ong did not follow for fear of embarrassment. Rebecca did follow, but constantly put down her glowing stick, not synchronizing with our movements. When Grace had her performance ended, I had arm pain for waving too long (non stop). The emcees of the night were hilarious and cheered the crowds with their funny advertisements. Time passed so fast that it was 1030pm when the show was over. Overall, New Tune Live Performance was a success and I congratulate the members for being so dedicated and brought an amazing performance to us. Really beyond words. Well done, the tickets are worth it.

 The guy in white jacket is Francis...

An Old Lady's Poem

When I was reading stories online, I came across this story entitled 'An Old Lady's Poem'. This story happened long time ago when an old lady, died in a geriatric ward of a small hospital in Dundee, Scotland. The nurse who came to pack her belongings, read this poem and it was soon copied and distributed to the rest of the nurses in the hospital. A nurse went to Ireland and took a copy with her. The old lady's sole possession-the poem soon appeared in Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North. Here goes the poem...

AN OLD LADY'S POEM

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply""
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe....
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill....
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten...with a father ! and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty--my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more, babies play around my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.
 I'm now an old woman....and nature is cruel;
Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years....all too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
 ...Not a crabby old woman; look closer...see ME!!





A typical story that happens to most of the elderly people in their golden age. When you think that the old folks are not listening to you or have lost their senses, think again...they still feel and always reminisced the past. If you have noticed, the old lady also said in the poem that she did not get nice treatments from the nurses...nurses thought of her as an old hag and demanded her to eat and did at their will. A common treatment in the old folks home. Never abandon your parents in this way.
It is a great poem to me.

My Younger Sister

Something urged me to blog about my younger sister today, Eloise. 19 years old, young and currently doing her Foundation in Arts in UTAR. She has always been our concern since she is the youngest and a baby sister to Kay, Yen and I. I would say that she and I quarreled the most back in the younger days over trivial matters. Trivial matters include who will feed the tortoise? Who will make the bed? Who will do the dishes and so on. She and I share the same physical features. In fact, all of us do. We have the same big round brown eyes inherited from my mother. The similar face bone structure, nose and lips shape. Many said I share the most resemblance with Yen and Eloise. There was one time when Yen and I were sitting in the foodcourt and a lady who was selling  noodles came to us, pretended to wipe table and asked us...are we twin? We were both shocked and found it funny to be asked that way, we replied no and our year gap is 1 year. Kay and I look almost the same too even though she has smaller face and I must say, a slimmer body already. The recent event that made me wanna blog about Eloise was that a friend of mine, Alex could tell that she is my sister without introducing who I was in the conversation. Holy, to the extend? Well, she was at the SMI Centennial Fun Fair when a friend of hers, Joey, introduced her to Alex. Alex could tell that we are siblings by looking at her face. When he told me this, I was a bit taken aback...really? to such an extend? I told myself. Honestly, I must say that all my 3 sisters are pretty ladies and when someone said I resemble them, I am kinda proud. Thanks to my parents who gave me beautiful sisters. The lower left pic is me and the lower right pic is Eloise.

See any resemblance between us? Just 2 years gap...

Being a brother, I must say that I am protective over my sisters. Growing up with ladies for the last 21 years made me sensitive when it comes to manner. Not to praise myself but I do find myself to have the tendency to wait for the girls who are left behind when walking. I will just wait for them to catch up before I proceed. Maybe majority of guys do the same but I do find out that some of my friends who happen to be guys, will not wait for the girls even though they are left behind. To me, it is very rude. Well, sometimes they do wait but only for pretty ladies. Guys who leave girls behind are not courteous. Eloise occasionally attracts swarm of 'bees'. Let me get things straight, I dun like guys to approach my sisters. I know some of you reading this might be my friends but I just wanna make things clear. She is my younger sister and as an elder brother, I am obliged to protect her so I will easily get discomfort when guys approach her and ask for her number. Well, I dun go hit the guys but I will listen to what she says about the boys she meet. Obviously I cannot control her social circle but I stalk the anonymous guys who try to approach her on Facebook. If Kay, Yen and I dislike the guy or feel that he has something else on mind, we will advise her to stay away from him. I have friends who added her on Facebook without my knowledge too which somehow made me uncomfortable when I found out. It is ok if she is not harassed in any ways but I just feel unease at first. I am not so worried for Kay and Yen. Kay is mature enough to think of her own and choose her life partner and Yen is a solid-type material. She doesnt fall for anyone's trick easily. I must say, she is the toughest sister in the family. On the other hand, Eloise is always the youngest and prone-to-be-protected in our eyes especially our parents'. My parents have always asked us to keep an eye on her as elder sisters and brother. In conclusion, I am not protecting her to the extend of limiting her social circle but I am easily get discomfort when someone tries to approach her. When she joined my friends and I in an outing, I kept her a distance away from my friends. Need not to be so close to someone you just knew, time will tell.

USS5 class of 2010

Got admitted into LSS5 in the year 2009 to proceed my Form 6. Then, got to know so many cool people and got so close. Males are like my brothers and females, my sisters. I must say that my relationship with them in the Lower 6 had not start to develop, only in Upper Six, we were so close. The board was Hans as Monitor, Penguin as assistant and me as the Treasurer. Hans sat at my left hand side and Tai would be on my right. Hans always sleep in the class especially Chemistry. Back then, our Form Teacher, Ms Wong was our Chemistry teacher and everytime Chemistry class gonna start, Hans would be telling me that he would be sleeping and asked me to cover for him. He would have his Chemistry book standing 90 degree on his desk and he slept behind the book. I of course did not tell anyone because we were sitting at the last row. Ms Wong thought that Hans was reading Chemistry with immense interest that he did not concentrate in her class. On the other hand, Tai is a bright student, he would only choose subjects to sleep on especially Maths and General Paper. Sitting next to Tai was Chua, a Chemistry-obsessed friend. I must say his Chemistry is better than mine. Sat next to the left hand side of Hans were Kishenthi and Mee Yee. Both were like a twin, always together wherever they went. To the toilet and to the foodcourt. In the 2nd row, lets start with Thava, the person who sat at the far left hand side, followed by Kin Mun, the friend with his constant laugh at perverted jokes. Then, our Penguin who was the only girl get sandwiched between boys. She found it awkward too sometimes but the feeling just fade when we got so close. penguin is currently at AIMST, going to do dentistry. Yay, next time free tooth treatment from her. Next to Penguin was Kelvin, the friend who fetched me to and from school. We live very near to each other and we always went back together. The advantage of sitting in his car was that you get to listen to so many K-pop songs and trendy clubbing songs. Next to Kelvin was Fox and Kah Loon. Both also very close to us and we constantly joke over perverted stuffs. Made the whole class laugh like hell until the next class would be wondering what happened. In the first row, lets start with Ean Yi, she was always with Cherry and then Eli. All 3 were from RPS aka Raja Perempuan School and made a trio. Same like Kishenthi and Mee Yee, the trio always go to the toilet and foodcourt together. Then, next to them was Peck Yee, the flower of the class. I must say, majority of the boys in the class had crush on her excluding me. Lolx. Now, she is happily attached to someone from the next class, a handsome one too. Next to Peck Yee was Nantaa and both of us had slight misunderstanding during those days so I will spare the story from being blogged. The last 2 girls sitting at the right hand side were Wei Yee and Jia Min. Both from JPP and were close too. Although our class isnt the world-class type and kinda hot especially in the afternoon, we remained in good terms and must say we were the world class students. Lol...the condition we were studying was not conducive, i must say. On the left hand side was windows painted black in colour because it was facing East and whenever the sun rises, we would be frowning and rushed to close the windows...sorta like vampires. Only afternoon arrived, we would open the windows and we never had our fan turned to the lowest speed. Our class was kinda isolated and the door was located at the rear right. Those days when moderator or teachers came into our class, we somehow din know and most of the time, we were caught making noise and when the stern look was given, we remained silence abruptly. I still remember my Biology teacher, Pn Alice and she loved to wear accessories on her wrist and ankles with little bells hanging. Her presence was the easiest to detect because whenever she came, we would hear bells ringing from far. The initially noisy class turned down the volume and Alice always find us quiet. Sometimes, she would begin the class with 'What happened? Why so quiet?". We just giggle and din tell her about the pre-telling-bell-jingling she was carrying. There were many funny moments back then. I still remember when Hans alerted Pn Rosnah, our General Paper teacher about the extended time she had for her class. He said loudly but not as loud to be audible by the teacher. He said 'Teacher, your period is over'. just after the sentence, Mee Yee and I looked straight into his face and all 3 started giggling in the last row. Hans couldnt stop laughing and I added 'How did u know her period is over?'. We just kept laughing and the teacher had no clue. Another event was that when the class had no teacher, we made noise and drew the attention of Pn Tan. We heard footsteps and all kept quiet, looked to the end of the class to see who was coming. It turned out to be the trio and all shouteh 'Cheh'...The trio was surprised to see their arrival was greeted by everyone in the class. Few minutes later, footsteps were heard later and Tai who was sitting next to me thought it was someone else playing prank on us. He shouted 'Sau pei la' (save it in Cantonese). This time, it turned out to be Pn Tan. She was standing there, understanding the language, she smiled a bit and the whole class burst out in loud laughter Tai's expression was like Oh shit! Not to forget Mr Karu, the strictest teacher in the school and everyone was afraid of him. In fact, he was a very nice teacher and helpful. He helped me to apply for university when I asked for his favour. Never once he turn down on the students. Then, Mrs Yee aka Pn Choong Sau Han. the best Chemistry teacher in Form 6. Armed with decades of experience, unfortunately, we did not get her as our Chemistry teacher. She was teaching USS2 Chemistry and the rate of passing in that class was the highest with the most number of students scoring As. However, the class paid the price of having endless additional Chemistry classes even on holidays. Not a bad idea i thought but my fellow classmates were grateful. Lolx. I must thank her because although she did not teach me, she offered help in Chemistry by lending me books. Those books were limited and she reserved one for me. I was so motivated after she did that. I promised myself to get an A for Chemistry otherwise hers and Ms Wong's hope on me would be thrown far far away, I din wanna disappoint them. During my trial, I got 4Bs and the pointer was not even 3.0. I was so discouraged back then but Mrs Yee got to know of my downfall, she came to me and said 'Dont get discouraged by your marks, its not final yet. U still have STPM ahead on you' Honestly, those were the touching moments I had back in Form 6. The teacher was motivating the student not to give up easily and I was so grateful that I experience it. It is invaluable even until now, I still think of Mrs Yee. Her motivation encouraged me and I strive for the best. The days came when we sat for our STPM, the 3rd hardest paper(public exam) in the world. When result was announced, I got 2A and 2A-, pointer of 3.84, not full 4.0. Fortunately, my Chemistry, i got an A and also General paper, thanks to Mr Karu and Pn Fauziah. Just a bit close to A for my Biology and Maths. Kinda let down Miss Lau (my Maths tuition teacher) but she was happy for my result, she said its good. Till now, i still miss my fellow teachers and classmates. Those were the best moment in my life even though we had to sit for public exam and the stress level was super high. I remember I couldnt bear the stress level that I cried when revising for Chemistry. Those days were gone and I miss my Form 6 team. I love you guys so much.