Just thoughts

I wonder what would going  back to school after such a long time be like..... most likely abit awkward.... Tomorrow would be the first day I start schooling........ Ermm.... Hopefully it will go well......  Definately would feel tired but it would take time to get use to it also...... Working life would be the same thing.......  Wish me luck...... nites

Are you well-prepared for your course interview?

You would be suprise that nowadays before they approve of the course that you applied for in the ITE, you would have to go through an interview.  My advice is for those that intend to pursue the course in ITE is to study the course subject.  You need to know what you are applying for.  They will ask you if you know what this course is about and whether you have screen through their website.  Also they will explain to you that you need to go for a medical check-up and so forth.  It would be good if a day or two before the interview you can google out some information from the net.  You would then be well prepared and your interview can actually proceed smoothly.

Horse/zebra Hybrid known as Zorse

No, this is not about insufficient white paint. Because this is not an incompletely painted zebra. There is no artificial coloring on the animal you see. This a female zorse: her father is a zebra, while her mother is a mare, this being the classical example of how a child receives a mix of genes from both 

progenitors.

What is more unusual in this case is that while most zebra-horse crossbreeds "wear" stripes, even if across their entire body, this specimen displays just two such patches, on its face and rear. 

Baptized Eclyse, one-year-old zorse is an accident, after her mother, Eclipse, spent a short period of time, while traveling from her German safari home park to an Italian ranch, where other horses and a number of zebras, including a male named Ulysses, were roaming freely. Eclipse's keepers were taken by surprise by the result of the pregnancy, whose mixed markings left no doubt about who the father was. 

The foal has turned into a major attraction at a safari park at Schloss Holte Stukenbrock, near the German border with Holland, where it even has its own yard. "You can tell she is a mix just by looking at her. But in temperament she can also exhibit characteristics from each parent. She is usually relatively tame like a horse but occasionally shows the fiery temperament of a zebra, leaping around like one." said Udo Richter, spokesman for the park. 

Horses and zebras are often crossbred in Africa and the hybrids are employed as trekking animals on Mount Kenya. 

Horses, donkeys, onagers (Asian wild donkeys) and zebras are closely related, belonging to the same genus, Equus, even in distinct evolutionary lineages. Horses and donkeys are crossbred for a long time: the mule is the result of a cross between a donkey and a mare, while the hybrid between a stallion and a jenny (female donkey) is called hinny. Still, donkeys and zebras are more related with each other than they are with the horses.

Ever wondered why one start creating their own blog?

Wow. Alot to absorb for nursing courses and interviews.  I hope everyone's weekend was a good one.  Ever wondered what is creating a blog is about?  To me, its like writing a diary.  You find articles in the newspaper interesting or even when you meet up with friends or relatives that share with you some stuff that you might find interesting and etc.....  One thing I like about it is one day I can look back and well reminisce the past.......  

I'm so proud of my husband this week.  This is the first time on his off day that he didn't say he wanted to go to the pub.  Normally even if he's broke, he would still want to go very badly.  A new year, a new achievement.  I hope this will last.  I applied directly to ITE for the nursing course and well I manage to get shorlisted.  I still haven't got any reply from the other two hospitals yet.  The kid I used to look after, the parents invited me for lunch today so will be leaving in awhile.  Will just continue writing the blog later then.

I feel pretty tired today cause I slept late.  Found my dad wondering around the house at 1.30am and just went out to ask him if anything was wrong.  He told me that he felt he was useless as he had to depend on others like my mom, my sis or my hubby for money.  He's suffering from senial dementia but it will become worse one day. The only thing that's preventing it from getting worse is the medication that the doctor has prescribe.  He started climbing onto a chair prop on top of another chair which was really dangerous.  He's quite weak in the legs already.  My sis from Canada ask them to go over this year for a holiday but my parents are really not sure about it cause of the last incident that took place there.  He suffered a slight stroke and came back to Singapore with a leg injury.  Although he's recovered from the injuries and almost back to normal, he's still pretty weak.  I hope he will always be in good health and stay strong.  Another problem would be my mom, she suffering from eye problem, her eyesight is abit blur now.  Still arranging for her to go for a second opinion.  As for Desiree, she's started school again and guess doing well.  I manage to apply direct and well I'm shortlisted for an interview.  It's next Tuesday......

‘Oily men’ strike fear in Malaysian village

Residents of a village in Selangor, Malaysia are on the lookout for what they say are two supernatural beings that have been terrorising their homes and families.

Known as orang minyak or “oily men”, the creatures are said to be human-shaped and sized, but are dressed only in their underwear and appear to be covered from head to toe in shiny black oil. 

The beings were first brought to light by P. Ramlee’s 1956 film entitled Sumpah Orang Minyak (The Curse of the Oily Man), and were featured again in a 2007 local production going by their namesake, but the villagers of Kampung Laksamana in Gombak, Selangor, are convinced there is truth to this phenomenon.

Malaysian newspaper The Star reported that since just before the Christmas period, villagers have told of numerous sightings of the creatures. Over the Christmas period, the paper reported that some 200 people patrolled the village streets, many of whom brandished parangs (machetes) and axes.

Residents, it reported, have also vowed to continue their nightly patrols until the two creatures are caught.

One resident who spoke to the paper, 33-year-old Aslam Khan, who claimed to have seen both theorang minyak, described one to be tall, stocky and bald, and the other to be thin and curly-haired.

“It was breathing really loudly, like a cow,” Aslam said, relating one occasion where he spotted the bald orang minyak hiding behind the water tank of a house in the wee hours of the morning. 

“It was black and shiny,” he continued. “When I shone my light on it, the thing stuck out its head to look back at me. Before I could do anything, it climbed up the roof and disappeared.”

Legend has it that orang minyak are humans who practice dark arts, either because they made deals with the devil in exchange for personal wishes or were forced into doing so after botched black magic rituals. They are supposedly required to rape anywhere between 40 and 99 virgins, whom the orang minyak are said to be able to recognise, before being liberated from their circumstances, or in order to hold up their end of the deals, depending on which story you read or movie you watch.

Another Malaysian daily, the Sinar Harian, reported that encounters with an orang minyakcompelled a family to move out of their house after being tormented by it over five days.

36-year-old Kamal Bahari Satar told the Sinar Harian that his sister-in-law saw the “apparition” inside and outside their house, adding that only female members of the family were able to see it. 

It apparently locked some of his family inside the house on Christmas eve, and he said that they saw a “black heap” beneath their kitchen table.

“When other residents poked it with a bamboo stick, we could see blood stains,” he told the daily, adding that police also found black footprints outside their house that evening.

Islamic faith healers who spoke to The Star said that orang minyak douse their bodies in oil in order to assist with camouflage and evade capture, and cannot use violence to do so, only magic.

“It also keeps on coming back to the same place to taunt the people and show off its abilities,” said Darussalam healer Ustaz Ismail Kamus, who also told the paper that they tend to take a few months to learn the magic that is involved, but an orang minyak that has mastered the black magic will be able to walk through walls and vanish into thin air.

Previous sightings of orang minyak in Malaysia, however, have turned out to have less to do with the supernatural than with human foibles. A Yahoo! Malaysia report relates how in September last year, residents in the Taman Pinggiran Batu Caves, located just two kilometres away from Kampung Laksamana, captured a man who was disguised as an orang minyak. Police later arrested the imposter, whom the report said was believed to be a black magic practitioner.

The villagers have since filed a police report and sought help from alternative healers, including abomoh, reported The Star. They also organise nightly prayer sessions seeking protection from the evil “spirits”.

They say this episode might be a blessing in disguise, however, as residents have rallied together against the creatures despite differing political differences.

Office worker K Paramisavam told The Star that he never really spoke to his neighbours before this, saying, “At the most, I would just acknowledge them (in the past). Now I actually talk and get to know them. The ‘neighbourly’ spirit has been enhanced by these happenings.”