FAGRAEA FRAGRANS

The Tembusu trees were flowering recently again, as evident by their flowering on the hill slopes of Kent Ridge Park.

FISH THERAPY

This looks like a well-planted up community fish tank but don't be deceived by its appearance. It is actually a fish spa therapy shop located at 333 Somerset. Some of the fishes look kind of big and I find it quite uncomfortable watching people, mostly tourists I guess, sitting on the ledge with their legs immersed in this tank.

Within a matter of seconds, the fishes would descend on the legs and start to do their job of removing dead skin from the legs. Some women withdrew their legs because of the ticklish feeling, I suppose? This form of therapy is said to aid in skin renewal but I have also read articles claiming that such treatment may pass on fungal diseases. Hence, I dare not try it myself.


I read that this is also very popular in Qian Hu fish farm in Lim Chu Kang.

CARPENTARIA CUMINATA

I have always love the Carpentaria acuminata (common name: Carpentaria Palm; Family: Arecaceae / Palmae), what with its feathery frond arrangement, yellow inflorescences and bright rich red berries. Isn't it just an amazing beauty?

TOASTBOX

I saw this poor thing tugged away under a shady corner of a shelf at the Toastbox outlet behind Orchard Cineleisure. So I put it out in a brighter area on the table where it deserved.

HOUSE PLANTS

I bought this beautiful Justicia brandegeeana from Hua Hng recently and it is slightly different from the one that I planted in HortPark. This one really reminded me of its synonym Beloperone guttata, that I used to see in books and this name was the first time I learnt about this beautiful Shrimp Plant.


The whole inflorescence is more curved and the youngest bracts are yellow orange before turning to red. To me, this is more attractive than the variety with a less curved inflorescence and red bracts.


I also bought this other beautiful Episcia cupreata from Cheers and 3 pots of this red-veined cute looking new Fittonia cultivar. It just made my day.

GARDEN SNAIL

This is another common garden snail that I actually love. I found it crawling in my planter of Fittonia, so I had to transfer it somewhere so that my Fittonia plants are well protected from them. However, it was quite disconcerting to see the transparent shell and this strand of transparent worm-like thing moving on the shell. I have absolutely no idea whether it is part of the creature or not though. 

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

This is the 4th fantasy movie on the Pirates of the Carribean. It would never be the same without Captain Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp, who can play almost anything. But to be frank, whilst I think Johhny Depp did the most brilliant and fantastic job of portraying this pirate and made him come alive, I cannot stand his quirky behaviour.


In fact, I am quite sick of this series of pirates movies but since I caught all three before this, I had to see this one too for continuity. Also starring Penelope Cruz, it was the usual pirates fighting over this or that hidden treasure, travelling to mysterious and treacherous places in the process, encountering and overcoming life-threatening obstacles.


This one had mermaids in it, and similar to one of the Harry Potter movies, the mermaids here are not harmless creatures. They were beautiful sea creatures that turned into man eating monsters after charming them with their beauty. Nevertheless, I still love mermaids since time immemorial because they are such beautiful mystical creatures. Would they ever feature mermans someday, I wonder?


A link on the movie is provided below:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_On_Stranger_Tides

NANDINA DOMESTICA

I have never seen the flowers of the Nandina domestica until that day when I saw these small flowers at Hug Hng or World Farm.

This plant from China has a beautiful common name Heavenly Bamboo (南天竹).

LIZARD

This is a container meant for keeping small pets e.g. lizards, frogs and so on. So imagine my surprise when I peeped into this empty cage and found a lizard months ago.

But it was a dead one. And it was a poignant one too. The shriveled remains of the once alive lizard reminded me of Jurassic Park and the extinction of the dinosaurs. Of course in this case, it was just a small tiny lizard. Yet I couldn't bring myself to remove the preserved remains from this cage since then, as I fear that it would suddenly crumble and fall apart when I touch it.


How long it would remain here, I do not know?

PRIEST

Don't read on or watch the movie if you are a staunch christian or firm believer of god because it is yet another blasphemous movie.


This movie starring Paul Bettany, Maggie Q, Cam Gigandet and Lily Collins, relates about a world at war between humans and vampires since the beginning of time. For centuries, the weaker human race managed to stay alive only because of the vampire's fear of the light. 


Eventually, a breed of warrior priests, with superhuman abilities and reflexes, under the Church defeated and vanquished the vampires, or so they thought, whilst most of the humans lived within a walled up city protected by the church. Fearing the powers of these priests, the Church dissolved the group and banished them to live amongst the normal humans.


When the title character Paul Bettany's brother and ex-lover cum sister-in-law were killed and his niece Lucy was kidnapped, supposedly by vampires, he rose against the Church in search of her together with Lucy's boyfriend, the wasteland sheriff Cam Gigandet. Enraged by his actions, the manipulative Church sent a team of priests, including Maggie Q, to go after him, dead or alive.


What is interesting is that in most classic vampire movies such as Christopher Lee's Dracula, there is always a female character named Lucy. Is it a coincidence in this movie or a deliberate attempt to give credit to the older movies? In addition, the vampires in this movie are unlike what we see in modern vampire shows. They are made out to be strong, agile, hideous looking or alien-like creatures with no eyes. Well, I guess it makes a lot of sense to depict them this way. Just like there are some blind cave-dwelling fishes, the vampires have no need for eyes since they live in the dark. Anyway, if Cam Gigandet looks familiar, that is because he was seen as a blond vampire in the Twilight series. How ironic? From a human-killing vampire to a vampire-killing human, it goes one full circle, doesn't it?


The ending provided enough premise for a sequel to be made since the queen vampire was not captured or destroyed in the hive. Anyway, a link on this movie is shown here:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_(2011_film)

DON'T STOP BELIEVING

I heard this song by Journey on Glee before and recently James Durbin sang it on American Idol before he was booted out of the competition. I thought he would win the competition but I guess it was not meant to be.

MYOPIA

It was the year 2003. After the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) was over, I went for the Wavefront Lasik surgery to correct my severe myopia of 675 and 750 degrees in my left and right eye respectively at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. And I never look back ever since then.


Based on a certain survey then, patients with severe myopia were most patients were happy with the LASIK results and were willing to give up a few years of their lives in exchange for the perfect vision. And I ditto that. Perfect vision means more to most patients than anything else and it is not something anyone would understand unless one is severely myopic to begin with.


So I enjoyed near perfect vision for close to 7 years. Starting from early 2010, my vision started to deteriorate again. I had a pair of glasses done after that and the power was about 75 (L) and 125 (R). I also went for a checkup by a professional eye surgeon and his comments were my myopic regression, or rather progression, is due to my genetic disposition rather than anything related to the former LASIK surgery. Which means to say, even though my power stabilized for many years before the LASIK surgery, I would still develop a higher myopia even if I had not gone for the surgery. The good news was, he said, the myopia correction would mean I would unlikely need to wear reading glasses for long-sightedness for the rest of my life.


But then again, my power seemed to have increased further and I was having trouble reading certain things slightly further away. This afternoon, a check with my neighbourhood optician showed my power is now 100 (L) and 175 (R). That is bad news to me and I would never be able to see well without the aid of glasses etc! According to the following link, myopia progression after LASIK usually occurs in those who have to do close work e.g. reading, than those who have to see farther. This means I need to cut down on time in front of the computer, so I would have to reduce blogging too to save my eyesight from further deterioration.


http://www.eyes4lasik.com/What_Are_The_Chances_Of_Regression_After_LASIK_Surgery.html

SUNGEI TENGAH

These are a few beautiful plants at the Sungei Tengah site:

1st - 2nd photos - Ficus
3rd - 4th photos - Cerbera (curly-leaved variety)
5th - 8th photos - Bauhinia
9th - 10th photos - Ardisia pyramidalis
11th - 13th photos - unknown
14th photo - Cratoxylum cochinchinense