Biology

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, I'm currently studying double pure sciences ( Biology and Chemistry ) in secondary school. 

Biology, a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy (  academic discipline of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups), is one of my favorite subjects. 

Since secondary 1, I have always found myself engaged in Biology lessons. I like learning and discovering about life, especially humans, because it's all around us, we can see it, feel it, and learning about our bodily functions is like learning about ourselves. Knowing how each individual living thing live and the processes that happen inside of them just captivates and intrigues me. 

In fact, if you guys remember correctly, the first category of science that we learnt in Primary 3 was Biology, then we go on to learn about materials, electricity, magnets, etc. So learning about living things was what interests me to study science back then. 

I remember in secondary 1 and 2 we used to have life science lessons, it is Biology but separated from our official syllabus, it's kinda like an " extra " thing, and it was really fun. Learning about DNA, genetics, etc. The life science lesson in secondary 2 was the most facinating one whereby we were supposed to work on a murder case project, carry out experiments, find out what happened, and act it out in front of the class. 


So how did Biology changed me? Both as an individual and the way I live. 

Well, ever since I start learning Biology in upper sec this year, I started to appreciate the things around me. The way my plants grow each day ( yea I keep plants, small ones ._. ), the diversity of living things around me, insects, plants, there are so many things that we can explore in this world, possibilities are endless. 

Whenever I see an insect in places that I do not want them to be in, I would gently pick them up, or lead them to another place, because it is a life after all. I do not want to be a murderer. 

Whenever I see a living organism that looks pretty interesting, I have the tendency to just look at it and study it.

I have also become more knowledgeable. Especially when none of my family members do not know shit about Biology, my mum was a business student, my sister just started learning science and my dad was a finance student. So whenever they do not know anything about some illnesses or names of organs, they will always come to me. Of course, if some things are too difficult for my level, I will always introduce them to a popular search engine called Google, and help them with their research. 

So, is studying Biology easy? It's just discoveries isn't it?

I can tell you, although this subject is fun, it is difficult. There lots of things to remember, processes, terms, and the questions are tricky. In fact, bio is one of the hardest paper to set for O levels. Also, you gotta be strong in your language, sometimes they will trick you linguisticly. 

Even simple things like red blood cells can be called " erythrocytes ". Damn, can't you just call it red blood cell? I think it is just to show the professionalism of the person who invented it :P 


I am considering taking up a Biology course when I go to Polytechnic. But, be it I make this subject my career or not, it doesn't really matter. Biology is a subject full of discoveries. I am committed to learn Biology for the rest of my life. Some things are learnt not because we must use it, but to expand our knowledge and minds. 

The Dark Side

I was listening to " Papercut - Linkin Park " on Youtube and was paying attention to the lyrics. 
Then I came across this set of lyrics " Everybody has a face that they hold inside
                                                                           A face that awakes when I close my eyes
                                                                           A face watches every time they lie
                                                                           A face that laughs every time they fall                                                                                                                                      (And watches everything) "

Immediately, I was inspired to write about something out of it. 

P.S I'm a very imaginative person ^^ HAHA. 

I believe that all of us have this " face " inside. A face that tells us to do certain things, a face that watches our every move, a face that we sometimes can't control, it just appears in the back of our minds out of the blue. As the lyrics goes, " A face that they hold inside ". 

What is this " face "??? 

Well, imagine a kid sleeping in a dark room. His imaginations start to go wild and he feels that there's a monster beneath the shadows of the dark, it is watching him, waiting for devour him at any moment. 

The monster that I have just explained is like the " Dark Side " inside of us. 

No one is a bad person. Everyone has both the light and dark side inside of them. Even the person whom you thought is good has a dark side that he/she hides, but it is there.  

Those who ended up doing bad things and get punished by the law are the ones who let the dark side control their being, and those who do good will NEVER let the dark side take over them. 

So remember, the next time you want to do something bad or evil, think about this " face " inside of you. it may tell you that the actions you are about to take is beneficial to you, but in reality, it wants to harm you. It's your alter ego that knows more about you than you know yourself. 

Success (Create value, not amount)

When i was a kid, i used to have this mentality whereby in order to be successful in life, you need to earn lots and lots of money, live in a big house, own big cars, etc. But as i mature over the years, i realised that value is more important than amount. 

To me now, success is not based on how much a person earns, it depends on the achievements that the person has achieved and how valuable those achievements are to him/her and to the people around him/her or whose life were impacted by those achievements. 

Think of it like when you are playing an Xbox game, you often look for achievements to unlock, right? Well, apply that same mentality and drive to your life. 

If a person's childhood dream is to open a restaurant and so after lots of ups and downs, taking up jobs in food industries to gain experience, finding business partners, the person finally opened it and it soon became one of the top restaurants nationally or internationally, then would i say that that person's have become successful? Yes. Because he/she has achieved something in his/her life. 



Let's take a look at another example....

If a teacher started teaching after he/she graduated and after a few years of teaching experience, he/she has received numerous awards, and many of his/her students have come to thank him/her after they graduated from that particular school, thanking him/her for his/her hard work and motivation and that inspired them to do well. Again, that teacher has succeeded. 





Of course, don't just gain one achievement and not look for others because you have achieved that. Live your life to the fullest. Even though that single achievement may mean a lot to you and to the people around you, look for other achievements to " unlock ". Because i believe that if you have achieved something and not try to achieve something else, you will feel empty inside. So have different goals every time. The world is huge. 

Money is important. But it is important only for our needs. Do not let money defines your life, let those achievements define you and the money would come naturally. If i'm looking for Polytechnic and University courses, I would choose the ones that i have a passion for and the ones that drives me to achieve lots of things in the future. Cos when I go out to work, i do not want to be thinking, where am i going with this career? Same old things again and again. Man, this is boring as sh**. Instead i want to be thinking, okay... Next. Hmm.. Nevermind i got this. I want a job whereby i can see the results of my work immediately. 

And that, is what i mean by, create value, not amount. 




Congratulations! You unlocked an achievement as well. Yes, you, the one behind the screen ^^ I'm kidding...

Do Aliens Exist?

I was inspired to write about this topic after i came across this photo below on Facebook. 



Do Aliens exist? Are there any other race living in the universe other than us humans? If so, who are they? What are they? 

Well, many people have different opinions on this topic. Some people will think that humans are the only race that exist in this universe, while others don't. 

What about me then? 

Well, my answer to the first question in the 2nd paragraph is, yes. ( In my opinion ) 

I do agree with what the " God " page has to say. This universe is " frigging huge ". So it would be kinda illogical to think that there is only one planet with living creatures residing in it. 

Honestly speaking, I would love to meet aliens someday if mankind get to meet those creatures in the future. They may be a bit scary-looking at first, or they may have the same features as us ( who knows...? ), but it's kinda cool, don't you think? Getting to know different intelligent races other than mankind and exploring and discovering the way they live. 

As long as they do not invade us, it will be okay. But let's make friends rather than enemies...

Currently, humans haven't discovered any of them yet, but as technology advances, we may get to find some planets with other races. We will never know what lies ahead. 

WRONG ANSWERS

Imagine this, you were doing an assessment book, either you were doing revisions for exams, or it was assigned as homework. You found that one of your answer was wrong when you checked it with the answer key. After checking why it was wrong thoroughly over and over again, asking your friends, teachers, you then realised that the answer in the answer key was wrong and it was not your fault after hours of frustration and anger. 

I'm not sure if any of you guys have experienced this before, but i have, dozens and dozens of times since Primary school till now. 

The purpose of the answer key is for us to check if our answers are correct, and occasionally to refer to when we get stuck. So we trust the information written on those few pieces of paper to help us, not to confuse or frustrates us with wrong information. 

As the do-er of the book, you trust the answer key to check on our answers, to see which ones are correct and which ones are wrong and to learn from the wrong ones. So you definitely will regard those answers to be correct. It is called the " ANSWER " key for a reason, and that's to give you the answers! Correct, ones. 

Imagine if you were in a bus stop and you were looking for the correct bus to take to get home. You saw the notice board and found the correct bus to take. But when you were on the bus, you realised that that bus did not go pass your house at all, it went to some other place that you didn't even know it exist. 

At that point of time, you can swear and curse all you want, your face can go like this...



But it will NEVER change the fact that you just took the wrong bus. 

Worst part is, it wasn't your fault! The freaking notice board says that the bus went pass your house. If you're really pissed and complain to the bus company, they will probably say that they have printed the paper wrongly and are sorry for your inconvenience.

Okay, so back to answer keys.....

Most of the time, the answers are correct, but there are times when the publisher prints the answer wrongly. 

I'm not hating on those companies that publish those assessment books, but i think that they should be more careful when writing the answers and check through it a few times before publishing the book together with the answers. 

But don't assume that every time your answers are wrong, means that the answer in the answer key's wrong. Yes, there are times it is wrong, but check through it, ask your teachers if you're not sure, before making a conclusion.