Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

From The Daily Telegraph

According to this article, If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Right brain (creative): Making intuitive leaps to answer based on insights and perception; relate to emotions

Left brain (logical): Process information in analytical, rational, logical and sequential way.

Just awhile ago, my mom and I were arguing whether she was turning anti-clockwise or clockwise. Sometimes we both saw it changed direction together. But most of the times, we each saw it going in different direction. I guess our brains must have randomly switched between left and right.

She said it was the picture which did the trick. Then I had to go a big round to explain how .gif worked and it was NOT because it was made to change direction every n seconds.

I guess you know she is a right brainer now. But guess which brain am I?

However, I do feel that this picture is just another optical illusion. How do our perceptions (towards this picture) determine if we are a left or right brainer?

This is a 2-dimentional picture and our brains ‘assume’ that we are looking at 3-dimentional image and hence, we could ‘sense’ direction. The shadow also helps to create the ’3D’ illusion.

If you look closely, it is just a 2D image which shifts back and forth to create an illusion.

Awhile ago, I studied about students’ learning styles (visual learner, hands-on etc), also based on the dominance of left/right brain. Interestingly, teachers with left/right brains do affect their teaching styles.

Left brain teacher: Prefer lecture and discussion; research and writing; prefer quiet and structured classroom.

Right brain teacher: Prefer hands-on activities; likes to incorporate art, visuals, sounds into their lessons; like active and noisy classroom; messy desk with books scattered all over.

Read the full article here.

So, what brainer are you? In which direction do you think the dancer is going?

Posted under Random ramblings | [12] Comments 

#Wow..I didn’t know there were so many Ramlee Burger fans! Anyone knows where to get it in Singapore?#

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In class, students and I were chatting about their ages and birth months..

A: I am born in December..

Me: Yeah..I think so too. You look like a december baby anyway.

A: Got look one mer?

Me: Well, I can tell sometimes.

B: Cher!! Can you guess mine?

Me: Mm..You look like you’re born in…somewhere in the middle of the year..

B: *In shock* Wow!! *turned to his friend* She’s right!

C: Cher! Cher! How about mine??!!

Me: Mm… *squinting my eyes real hard* Yours…mid-year, but towards the beginning of the year.

C: *in awe* Wow….How did you tell??

Me: Well, just instinct. Sometimes it comes very strong. Believe it or not, I communicate with my mom by sending brainwave sometimes. We called it the ‘tee-tee’ communication.

C: Cher! You send the wave to me!!

Me: Well, it also depends on how ‘strong’ you are as a recipient. *wink*

After lunch break…the conversation somehow continued..

Me: *to student A* You are the youngest one in the family right?

A: Yes! I have an elder brother. How you know, cher??!!

Me: Well, same lah. Your look lor..

C: Cher! Cher!! How about me??

Me: Wait wait…I am sensing something… *squinting real hard, with 2 index fingers pointing both sides of my head*

Me: You have a sister.

C: *nodding enthusiastically*

Me: And….a younger sister!!

C: *in awe* Wow!!! How can you tell?? Cher!! Guess her name!!

Me: I can’t guess name!! Ok..English name?

C: No…she has Chinese name.

Me: Aiyah…I guess no Chinese name..

Sometimes I surprise myself too.

Posted under Work | [9] Comments 

I only get to see my sister twice a year. If we’re blessed enough, we could spend more time together, more often.

It always strikes me how long I have missed her and how much she has grown (because she is always the little sister of mine). She always surprises me with her thoughts and new ‘behaviors’, simply because I have missed most parts of her life.

Last week, I received a sms from her..

“Che, come and see me, ok?”

Despite my busy schedule, I knew I had to be there. Hence, I took a coach down to KL, eagerly to see her.

I waited for her at a petrol station. Tired and hungry, my blood boiled. “Something never change..” I grumbled. But as soon as I saw her driving her little car approaching from far, my heart smiled. I missed her being herself.

Looking at her maneuvering the car around corners in KL, I realized she has morphed into a city-person.

“How long have you been staying here?” I asked.

“Well, almost 5 years now. Wow..can’t believe we have left home for so long! And we both own a place! Kinda…” She laughed.

“Yup, almost 7 for me.”

A must-have Ramlee Burger (roadside one)

Assam laksa (penang laksa is still the best!)

People always say that you could judge a person’s lifestyle and personalities by looking at her house. During my short stay at her place, I have learned more about my sister now. There is something I just won’t get to see back at our folks’ house, eg. The mess.

She has a full set of make-up tools, neatly-folded fresh laundry in huge plastic bags (yeah, she paid to get her laundry done), clothes and stuff were all over the place, toilet that ran out of toilet paper… All are the tell tale signs of a busy working city person. Being a big sista, I nagged her, of course.

At THE CURVE, a great weekend market to shop. I bought her this ladybird bag, 5 pairs of earrings and a cool top.

During the last day, she sent me to Puduraya Bus Terminal. That place is notorious for high crime rate! To me, it is also a carbon monoxide chamber.

I wore a skirt that day. She saw and raised her voice.
“HOW CAN YOU WEAR SUCH A SHORT SKIRT TO PUDU! So dangerous! Go and change!!!”

“I don’t have pants..” I murmured

“Aiyoh!! You CANNOT wear skirt!! I lend you my pants.”

When we were waiting for my coach at the terminal, I wanted to take a picture to show you guys how dirty and chaotic the place was but, my little sister nagged..again,

“Please don’t take out your camera, NOT IN HERE!”

“Aiyah…just take a quick picture..”

“What are you SO IGNORANT! You have be to more alert in places like this!”

Who is the big sista now huh..? I felt so “domesticated”.

Posted under Family , Travel | [7] Comments 

On Sunday, the pastor read us these verses from Hebrews 4:10-11.

“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

I jokingly told my friend:”Oh yes, I really need a rest man…”

“Don’t tell me you’re going back to work after service!”

Me:” Er…I don’t want to be ‘disobedient’ so will take a good cat nap, then go back to work. How does it sound?”

My friend said I was hopeless.

On Monday morning, I woke up with a bad headache. So I thought it would go away after a good hot shower.

But it didn’t.

It became worse after lunch. So bad that I couldn’t even have my eyes open. It felt as if my head was going to explode!

I dragged my feet to my last 4 hours of class (of the day). My students were very nice and understanding. No one made me scream and rather, they were trying to cheer me up. Too bad that each time I wanted to laugh at their ‘lame jokes’, my head threatened to explode.

2 hours had painfully passed. My body shivered and my students said that I looked like I was going to die. Finally, the fever kicked in. I knew I had to lie down before my body takes charge to do so (even without my permission). I had to dismiss the class earlier.

Since then, I have been sleeping like a baby. I can’t stay up for more than 2 hours before hitting the sack again. Have plenty of water (because that’s what sick people do) and always wake up with “the urge”. Worse, cold sweat.

I am allergic to panadol. (It’s stupid, I know…) It makes my stomach really upset. So I have alternatives…

Some good old medicines from my family doctor who knows my allergies inside out, and essential oils for headache and nausea.

Being single and staying alone at this very helpless moment, always rub salt into the wound. I am too tired and weak to neither buy meals nor cook. So how? Somehow I managed not to ‘rot’ at home.

But I am glad that my body can finally shut down, even for a good 2 days. The downside is though, feeling very guilty that I missed classes and seeing so many “UNREAD” emails waiting for replies. Nevertheless, I have gotten the rest that I have long needed it.

Posted under Me! Me! | [8] Comments 

Yesterday, Sean suggested that I should blog about the following incident. However, having a short-term memory as usual, I couldn’t recall much about it. And hence, Mr. Sean ‘volunteered’ to write HIS renactment.

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Disclaimer: Kindly note that the story has been stylistically treated to provide entertainment value….whatever that means…

Time: D-Day Before
Venue: Ikea Restaurant
Scene: Ms Cherry & Mr. Sean had finally found a table at the restaurant. The table was littered with unused chilli sauce sachets and wads of serviettes

Pointing at the litter on the table with her trademark queeny-broken-wrist, Ms Cherry spoke in great disdain.

Ms Cherry: “Gosh! I just don’t understand people nowadays! Look at all the chillies and serviettes…why do people have to take more than what they need? Just because they are free!?”

In the mind of Mr Sean : There she goes ranting again….such an idealist. But, yah…keke..she had a nailed point though….ITS FREE WHAT…duh… AR-BO-THEN?”

Mustering up his best behavior, trying extremely hard to be politically correct.

Mr Sean murmured: “Erm…Yes…how inconsiderate, these people.”

Ms Cherry :”Yeah agreed fully with you! We should not and will not behave like that!”

Mr Sean: “Of course…”

Ms Cherry: “Some more…why people can’t clear their own plates and rubbish after their meal!”

A few quick possibilities flashed across Mr. Sean’s mind (Go ahead… you pick one, I’ll give you the correct answer at the end)
Because…* drum roll, please*..…
a. There are people hired to do the clearing up?
b. Part of Gahmen’s perfect plan of employment restructuring for the elderly?
c. We don’t want to take away employment opportunities from people?
d. We pay 10% service charge?
e. We pay 7% GST to the Gahmen to come up with the perfect plan of employment restructuring?
.
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: F- none of the above. Ta –Da! *Applause please*…whatever…

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Time: D-Day
Venue: Ikea Restaurant
Scene: Ms Cherry sat at the table while Mr. Mike and Mr. Sean went to pick up the necessities for dinning i.e. crockery.

Mr. Mike & Mr. Sean placed the necessities on the table… Ms Cherry suddenly burst in anger.

*Looking sternly at Mr. Sean pointing toward the necessities with her queeny-broken-wrist*

Ms Cherry: “What did we just say yesterday?”

Mr Sean *confused* : “Er…what?”

Tneh!!!!!!!!! Wrong Answer!

Ms Cherry: “Didn’t we say something yesterday about how inconsiderate are people nowadays ?!

Like a PC activated by a cold reboot, Mr. Sean restarted all his memory programs, executable files and searched frantically within his hard disk for what was said the previous day…somehow the file “chilli sauce” was found.

Mr Sean: “I thought we meant chilli sauce?”

Tneh!!!!!!! Wrong Answer Again!!!!

Ms Cherry*fuming*: “It’s not chilli sauce! It’s the serviettes! You took so many serviettes for what! You have many mouths to wipe is it! Why did you need to take such a thick wad of serviettes?”

Mr. Sean: “I was not conscious about it…I just took…”

Tneh!!!!!! Wrong Answer Again and Again!!!!!

Mr. Mike who was sat silently observing *the squabble* must have felt terribly uncomfortable…his eyes were bewildered and perhaps did not understand what was really going on half the time. He must have an irrepressible urge to say something to save Mr. Sean from the bad situation after observing how badly Mr. Sean was hammered by Ms Cherry.

Mr. Mike: “Oh…Sean took more serviettes so that he can use it in his car lah.”

Mr. Sean was at the cross road this time…should he accept Mr. Mike’s kind gesture of a ladder to come down or should he just be honest about it…already 3 wrong answer liao! * Imagine sweat dripping down his forehead in slow motion and the sound of heartbeat thumping away*

Mr. Sean finally spoke :”Mike, thanks. But that is not the reason. I just took more serviettes without thinking. Period.”

Ms Cherry interjected: “Mike, don’t have to give excuses for this man. He never brings serviettes to his car.”

*Phew..I guess I gave the right answer this time?*

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Time: Some Weeks after D-Day
Venue: Cathay Cinema (SuperDog)
Scene: Ms Cherry and Mr. Sean seated in the cinema waiting for the show to commence. Ms Cherry took a piece of cheese drenched nachos which dirtied her fingers.

Mr Sean: “Nah…Serviettes…look….1 piece only ar..”

Both looked at each other and smiled uncontrollably.

Ms Cherry looking away smiling and murmured: “Somehow, I have a feeling that I will be “suan” by you for even when I am sixty years old.”

Yah rite…………

—-The End——-

Cherry’s Disclaimer: I could have said what was written above but I SWEAR, I wasn’t fuming or sounded so ‘fierce’…Er..may be I did BUT, I wasn’t scolding lah!

Posted under Life documentaries | [5] Comments