Post Christmas

The Christmas party at Tita Bell's house was a ball. Everyone was dressed so nice in their semi-formal dress code. I felt a bit under-dressed with my collared shirt and dress pants. The party was fun, we had games for the kids and the adults and it was a smashing good time. It was a great Christmas party, one that I hoped for because last year's party was so drab. Also I did a bit of Boxing day shopping. I ended up getting 2 games, Bioshock and Tekken 6, both at great prices. I also finally got certified UFC gloves. They're sick, plain and simple. For reals. I also got a crap-load of premium carbon bits and fish food. I also got some new plants, of which I do not know the name and 2 Turquoise rainbowfish. My sister finally got her first DSLR camera, which she's been wanting for forever. So I borrowed it to get some nice shots of my aquarium fish, although I did not get all of them. I was happy with the detail and clarity that I obtained from the majority of the shots.


Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


My Leopard Ctenopoma (Ctenopoma acutirostre). I have 2 of them, the other one was hiding. It was hard to take a pic. They are a year old.


Silver Dollar (Metynnis argenteus)


Here's both of 'em. They're more than a year old.


Fresh water Angel Fish (Petrophyllum Scalare)


Here it is again, with the other one in the back. Stalking the surface.


Here's my third one. The nigga of the angel fish group, if you will lol. He's awesome. I used to have two of these and another white angel fish.


Black Ghost Knife (Apteronotus albifrons)


One of my fave fishes from the tank. This guy was so hard to get a pic of, cuz he kept hiding in the rocks. He's grown a lot since the time Alvin, Rei and I went to Big Als in the summer.



Odessa Barb (Puntius padamya)


These guys have beautiful colour and shiny scales. There used to be 4, but now only 2 are left. The other 2 perished =(


One of the 11 Serpae Tetras (Hyphessobrycon eques)

The Rainbowfish!

These guys needed their own section cuz I have quite a few different species. They are vibrant and one of my favourite group of fish. They are expensive as hell too, lol.


Bosemani Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani)


The colouration of this guy is one of my favourite combinations. Orange/Yellow and Green/Turquoise. It's not at its best colouration right now, but it still looks great.


Chequered or Australian Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida subsp. inornata)


Red Rainbowfish, one of my first rainbowfishes and still one of my favourite in full colouraiton. So bright and red. In this pic, it's alright, but when they're showing off, they're REALLY RED.


Red and Chequered meet. The chequered rainbowfish has interesting coluration. Silver and at times purple, with stripes of orange, yellow blue and purple.


One of the new additions to my rainbowfish family. I bought two of these Turquoise Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia Lacustris), with green being my favourite colour and all. The Red an Turquoise rainbowfish will nicely compliment each other once the juvenile ones that I just bought mature.


Forgot the species name for this rainbowfish. Will post when I find out.


New plants!


They look awesome.


My tito's discus.


One of my young discuses.


I hope he grows to be colourful.

That's about it. Hope you guys had a fun Christmas as well. Time to bring in 2010 with a bang!

Alan

Christmase Eve: Thoughts.

I am kind of in a slump again with my blog posting. I realise I'm on and off. At times I would be hyper-posting and now, I'm hypo-posting. I can provide a myriad of excuses..umm....I mean, reasons, but what's the point?

Anyways, Christmas morning is hours from now. This will be my 20th Christmas I've spent on this Earth. The snow is falling and it looks like we will see the aesthetic Christmas has been associated with all over the world; a white Christmas. It looks so pure and serene. Sadly, not all parts of the world experience this joy and I'm not just talking about the snow. We're days away from New Years, where we will be entering a new decade. It's quite exciting.

So I, and I am certain most of you as well, greet people with the very general and secular "Happy Holidays!" greeting. I'm not gonna try to argue why either one should be socially acceptable. In many parts of the world, Merry Christmas is the best and should be the only greeting and in others, specifically the west, put this significant day in an awkward and shameful place. A place full of money and business. In short, Christmas has become materialistic. It has been stripped of its value and turned into a holiday circus fest, where people dress themselves with white beards, where people give presents and expect something in return. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the whole present-giving thing, generosity and gratitude are excellent virtues, but they stop being virtues once you expect something in return or put a monetary value on a gift, rather than putting a greater value from the heart. It sounds cheesy and even cliche, but Christmas is the time of giving. Most of us forget that principle. Many argue, "No I have not, I gave presents." Granted, but think about why you're giving in the first place. Is it to receive a feeling of self-satisfaction? Do you feel obliged to give because of the occasion or because someone has given you a present? Do you feel that you have been "cheated" because you gave a present to someone and did not get one in return? Is a mere thank you and a smile not satisfactory? I certainly realise the power of money and in the present, as it ever was, money is a powerful and persuasive tool that can accomplish many things. But one thing that it cannot accomplish, is a genuine feeling of goodness and purity. A feeling that can make the worse of humans feel good. A feeling that makes you feel like a great human being, even for just once a year. Something that humbles you.

This brings me to my next point. Although Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ, is usually associated with Christianity, there is no reason for other people to be excluded from this celebration. Obviously, thinks like going to mass and church are things other religions cannot share, but Christmas is so much bigger than that. Jesus Christ, if not taken into religious context and looked at as a human being, was one of the greatest men to have ever lived. And even for those who do not believe of his existence and even his divinity, he stands as a symbol. A mere man, born in one of the most humiliating places one can ever be born in, a stable where animals are kept. He went on to preach not just to Jews but also gentiles, having no preference for one type of people; no exclusion what so ever. He brought the word of goodness to everyone and just wished for everyone to do the same. He went on to die on a cross for humanity's sins. Even if some of us do not believe that he did not relieve us of our sins, the idea alone, that a man would die for people he did not know, but cared for, had that courage and had that humility. It's truly outstanding and awe-inspiring and something that ALL religions can take to heart and understand and this is not because he was the Messiah, not because he was the son of man but because he stood for all of these values. This is what celebrating Christmas is about.

I'm not gonna try to hide the fact that I deviate from my faith's teaching's here and there, but knowing all of this compels me, for this day, just for this one day, to do something good. Whether it be for a several people or a person, for my God and myself.

And with that, I wish you all the best. Merry Christmas.

Alan

End of Pharmacology, King's Buft, 4 dollar movie.

The title pretty much sums it up. Pharmacology officially ended today. Few of my friends and I headed for King's Buffet. I really indulged my hunger there, haha. Amanda took more than she can chew, Angel ate too much too fast and Vu, well....Vu is Vu. We then watched Ninja Assassin. It was a decent movie, to my surprise. Slick action scenes, very visceral and bloody. It's ninja cliches done right. It may be a cliche, but it's a damn good one. Story wise, it is pretty standard fare. It is dangerously similar to Batman Begins though.

Time to enjoy this brief intermission in 2nd Year. Christmas should be fun.

Alan

Pharmacology exam done.

I'm done the exam. I leave everything up to God now. If he decides a bright future in nursing for me, then I will follow it. If he has something else in mind, then I will follow that path. Whichever path He provides, I'm ready to follow.

It was not as complicated as I expected. Don't get me wrong though, it was still tough as nails. I just think I did better than what I had initially believed. Knock on wood.

Hopefully, come the results, it turns out good.

Here's to destiny,

Alan

DRUGS

Pharmacology is all about the action of drugs on our body. It's super exciting!

Or is it? I don't know. Whatever.

I just want this exam to be over with.

2 pm today....the clock is tickin'.

Alan

The Pokemon franchise sides with demons.

My next exam is at 4pm. I'm just chilling. I stumbled upon this video. Please heed this dude's warning.



Good God, I can't believe how close-minded some of these people are.

Alan

Slothing

Good grief. The coming of winter is hitting me hard. I've been getting an everage of 13 hours of sleep a day. It seems like I'm going into hibernation mode. Wow. I hate exam time, I just wish it would go away.

I've been having weird dreams lately.

Alan

13th Return Home

Great weekend so far.

Had to solo Judo. Sparred with a black belt. This huge Russian guy. I had top control but he reversed and threw me around like I weighed 10 lbs.

TUF 10 finale fights were sick. All main cards were finished. The one fight that went to decision was Kimbo's and Houston's fight which was the fight everyone thought would end in a KO in the first round. Kimbo's made some nice improvements. Big props to Roy "Big Country" Nelson. Bringin' the fat back, lol. The Weird Al entrance was hilarious. Good stuff big country.

On a totally different note, I've been watching a load of Glee lately. Awesome show.

-Alan

Last Medical Clinical Day

I'm relieved. I learned a lot this semester. I'm really gonna miss my tutor. She was excellent, approachable and intelligent. I wish all tutors were like that.

Mandarin lunch was satisfying.

Thanks for all the teaching Dianne and also for my lunch.

The only guy in your group and the most calm,

Alan