The afternoon of a cold autumn day

Never was a fan of rain. Especially now when temperatures are so low you don't need an actual refrigerator. 

But sometimes, it's so calm outside after the rain that you forget there was rain. 

Waffles

The thing about being abroad isn't that you're exposed to the land overseas. It's also about how connected you are to the land you came from. 

I keep getting news feeds on facebook from Malaysia and this link sticks out and rubs itself in my face knowing I can't go back just yet. 

http://www.foodadvisor.my/best-waffle-subang-jaya/

What would I do for a good waffle right about now...

Reading sessions

I would love it if I could get someone to help me read my Japanese book. I've been reading just fine because I can more or less tell what the words mean but I want to know how to actually read them. 

It'd be nice if someone could read the words I don't know for me and help explain them to me as I read the book. 

That's my new request for the day. 

Looking for something to do

It isn't as easy as it sounds. For the very accomplished it may seem absurd to not be able to find something to do. 

No. To not be able to find something to do is simply impossible.

There's always something to do. People to meet. Deadlines. Work. Chores. Hobbies. 

There's always something that needs to be done. 

What's your motivation? Why do you do them? What makes you do what you do? 

Why do you need to do what you do? What are you accomplishing? What end result are you seeking? What is the goal? 

There's always something to be done. But looking for something to do, isn't so easy. 

I need a reason to take the next step but there's no motivation. No reason. No real reason. No risk or benefit involved. 

I just need something to do. 

Mendeley Collections

Mendeley is an awesome reference manager. It works across various platforms and is able to sync your library over different machines. Even if the machine you're using doesn't have Mendeley, you can still easily access your references through Mendeley web. 

Adding references to Mendeley is easy and pain free. The problem with Mendeley though is if you want to bring your library with you everywhere. 

I can't seem to get the software to load fast on my school's workstation because every time I load Mendeley, it's the "first time" it loads. That means it automatically starts importing all the pdf files I have uploaded to the web. 

At first I thought I'd work around that by keeping my pdf collection on dropbox and manage them through Mendeley. That worked but the problem is, the program still tries to download the entire  database of PDFs even when they are already in my computer. 

That just sucks. 

So, I've decided not to load any PDFs at all. I turned the function off. Now Mendeley works just fine for me. 

I use it to manage references and when I need my PDFs I can simply click "add pdf" and it'll be where I expect it to be. No harm done. Would be nice if it's automatic but I guess nothing in this world is perfect. 

Racism

People need to look up the term "racism" before they use it every time they hear the word "race". What most people consider racism nowadays is nothing more than the appreciation of one's own culture and ancestry. Just because you're uncomfortable hearing someone say "oh so you're Chinese" doesn't make it racism. It's demeaning to yourself to believe that you're being insulted when there was no injury. Are we really so weak and fragile that the "possibility of being injured" or that "because that could have been hurtful" we have to defend ourselves immediately and call the offending person names? Does that give us the right to judge them for merely stating a fact? If you're Chinese you're Chinese. If you're Asian you're Asian.

Racism happens when a person is prejudiced or discriminated or antagonized directly because of their race. When someone merely mentions that you're of Asian descent, it does not make that person racist. Replace "Chinese" or "Asian" with any other race you can think of.

I just get so annoyed when I read a perfectly wonderful article that gives me hope that humanity hasn't forgotten how to be humane and the first comment that appears right under it calls the author racist for mentioning the word "black" or "Hispanic" or "Asian", saying things like "there should be no such thing as race" or "I don't care about what race people are and this article shouldn't even have mentioned it". Come on people! Do you really have to feel offended for no reason? If the author or if the speaker is trying to appear superior or trying to antagonize the race, sure. If you are being denied of a benefit or classified for a different set of treatment, sure. Fine. But if it's mentioning a specific event for a very specific group of people that has named that said event after their own culture, how is describing all that racist?

Well. I enjoy being a Malaysian Chinese very much and a lot about me has to do with my identity as a Malaysian and as a Malaysian Chinese. I'm not China Chinese but we can have a good long conversation about that.

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I guess what I really want to say is, you are who you are and no one can change that. Nothing anyone says can hurt you or change your entire being because no one on earth holds that much power over you.

Pestle

To crush or pulverize. To turn to powder.

Synonym: pound; mill; ground; grate; granulate.

I had forgotten the word for "turning huge granules into fine powder". Turns out I could use the word "pound" or "pestle". What did I use before this? "Crush"?

Venturesome

The adjective venturesome describes someone who is willing to take risks, someone brave. If you have a venturesome child, you may worry because she's the one you find on top of the playhouse instead of inside it.

The root word of venturesome is venture, and venture is short for aventure, which is a form of adventure, which we understand to be an interesting or exciting experience. Some people are more venturesome than others. You may thrive on mountain climbing or going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, or your idea of adventure may be occasionally trying a strawberry jelly with your peanut butter instead of grape.

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How can you not enjoy the company of a venturesome person? It's an awesome thing!

Loquacious

A loquacious person talks a lot, often about stuff that only they think is interesting. You can also call them chatty or gabby, but either way, they're loquacious.

Whenever you see the Latin loqu-, you can be sure that the word has something to do with "talking." So a loquacious person is a person who talks a lot, and often too much. Sitting next to a loquacious person at a dinner party can make dinner a real drag. Of course, if you've got nothing to say, a loquacious person might make a good dinner companion, because they'll do all the talking. All you will have to do is smile and eat.

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Loquacious people are awesome. I never have as much as they would to say so knowing that they exist makes me happy.

How to Split Tables in Google Docs

I recently made an attempt at video-making. If you'd like to see the video version of this very simple tutorial, click here.

(Edited April 23, 2016.)
*****

I have recently started to seriously use Google Drive for my job and was quite upset at first when I found out that making tables in Google Docs isn't as easy or straightforward as in Microsoft Word.

One of the problems I had was with splitting tables. Especially across pages. I finally found out how to do it.

All you have to do is to highlight the part of the table you want to split and drag it to an empty space above or below the original table. Drag and drop! By doing a simple drag and drop, you can finally split a table in Google Docs easily!

Step 1: Highlight all cells from the point you want to split. (I.e., if you want to split the bottom half of a table from the top half of a 2x4 table, highlight the bottom 4 cells.)

Step 2: Click and hold on the cells you have highlighted and drag to an empty space at the bottom of the table. (Use the "enter" key to create the empty space. A minimum space of 3 empty lines will result in an effective split.)

Step 3: Observe that your table has miraculously split!

Romans 13:9-10

“The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” 

Sometimes...

... the truth slaps you in the face and you feel helpless in its wake. 

Well, The Truth is waiting for you to wake up and realize that some things aren't what you think it is. 

Get over it!

Part of My School Getting Destroyed

... For better things.

The school has been under renovation for awhile now and the new buildings look amazing!

I can't wait till they're ready and I can't wait till the school tells us we can move to a bigger laboratory to accommodate our growing numbers (both members and equipment).

Power Sleep App

Your phone probably has a good deal of processing power and when you're not awake, its idle state may be put to good use.

Read about the power sleep app here: Quartz on Now your phone can fight cancer!

It only applies to Android phones (not the iOS) and only works when your phone is plugged in and on WiFi. (So there's apparently nothing to worry about extra data transfer costs.) What you're doing with this app is to "donate" your phone's processing power to research programs while it's idle. Think of it as one part of a million processors that is working for a super computer.

Not a bad idea on the part of the researchers. I might be tempted to assist if android phones didn't require so much battery power during the day.

If you're interested, here's a link to the download site: Power Sleep App

Warm Up Activities for ESL Learners

I've been browsing the internet for English lessons today and realize that there are a lot of free materials available out there! Here's a few that I like:

English Club
+ for learners and teachers of English +
+ free materials +
+ free registration required pending approval +

Busy Teacher
+ free worksheets +
+ free registration required +

English Current
+ seems a little dodgy +
+ too many ads in one page +
+ seems legit +
+ no registration required +

ESL Kid Stuff
+ for kids! +
+ paid membership required +

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Other sites I found:

Better Language Teaching
+ package available for immediate download after payment +

Free, Certified Courses from the World's Top Publishers

Englipedia

Warm Up Lesson Plans by About.com

Flow English

ESL Library

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Worksheets for Business English Lessons

Business English Online

Using English

ESL on About.com

One Stop English
+ paid subscription to download materials +

English Grammar Secrets

Lingua Press