Constructing Space Rails is akin to Assembling Gundams....

I was walking with my bff when I saw a toy display at the mall - steel ball bearings zooming on elevated rails and never ending (unless the battery goes flat). SPACE RAILS!! - it said at the box. I had my eyes on the same kind of toy two weeks ago at 'Toys R Us' but the item in front of me was 40 % cheaper. Mainly because it was a copy manufactured in China.... but who cares. I WANT ONE!


So after reaching home, around 11.30 pm, we opened the box and started the construction.... The plastic pieces were numerous and the manual, even though was translated into English - was badly so, and not giving much help. It took us until 1.25 am when I shook the damn manual in disgust and threw it away.


Let's do this our own way! 


And we did, and finished the rails at approximately 3.30 in the morning. :) We drove to the nearest 7-11 but they didn't have the battery size we needed. Bugger....


And MUCH later at 9.00 am, we bought the battery at another grocery shop, installed it and watched the ball bearings zoomed around. It's a rather nice set up. :party


I think I'll get a new Gundam robot soon.... it's so calming to build your own toy :angel

                   


I wish to bring this to school for my students to see, because a lot of Physics is implied in setting up the rail. But I decided not to, oh selfish me. They'd think it as only a toy.

Mission Accomplished : Mount Presents

Today is Teacher's Day in school. And I arrived in school much later than usual brandishing two digital cameras (my own Sony-H3 and an Ixus) because I am the school un-official photographer. I love taking pictures, and I am VERY good at it (not the pictures taken with my mobile phone though, those are of low quality). I began the morning with taking candid pictures of the teachers all over the school. 

I am sorry. But these old female teachers THREATEN to kill me if I put their pictures in my blog. And they will check frequently. :( *snif* There goes my opportunity to make fun on other's expenses.

Anyhoo (as the Australians would say), the reason for this entry is.... YES, I ACHIEVED A MOUNTAIN OF GIFTS ON MY DESK!!! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!! 1 000 x  The secondary objective to make the other teachers green with envy was also successful.

And they accused me of forcing my students to give the presents. Ok, ok, I admit I did the dastardly deed last year. But this year (if you follow my 'Words from An Educated Psychopath') I only ask them what they wanted to give me. It's a huge difference, right?

Ok, enough gloating for now. I have a snippet of my students' 'dikir barat' during the performance for teachers this afternoon. Hope you like them. :) [Sorry for the lousy sound. I was sitting at the very front, on the steps, next to the huge speaker]

Oh, and I will take a photo of my presents tomorrow (if none were stolen).

                                    

Pandemonium in School!

My ferret, Pandy, nosing on my bench in the Physics laboratory. Isn't he 'cuteness overload' personified? :)

Rockets Rockets All Day Long!

                                
We arrived at the competition place very early, 8.30 am and lazed on the cushions at the planetarium's lobby for half an hour. Twenty five secondary schools were taking part and they promised us that this year's competition will be much faster than last year's because two launchers were being used instead of one.

Erm....

There were two rocket categories for each school; the targetting competition and the parachute competiton. For targetting, each school were allowed to launch their rockets twice to hit an area some 45 metres away (ours were too powerful and went over the target area!). For parachuting; rockets should be able to deploy parachutes and the winner will be the ones with the longest time airborne (great many rockets FAILED to use their parachutes, although ours succeeded in this challenge, but not high enough for me).

The clip above is of my students launching our rocket for the rocket-parachuting competition. 

Mauled by Kiki

This always happen whenever I take a nap with the door open. My cat Kiki would wish me to pet her and sometimes she wants to nuzzle my neck! This always end with me taking her back to her cage if I wanted any sleep at all.

p.s. - the whistling sound was made by the fan, which was directly pointed at me.