Thursday 22 November 2012

Protein with longest name


Good day readers!

I was driving along earlier today when the radio presenter read out a little titbit that sparked the nerdiness in me. She talked about a protein with the longest name in English with a whopping 189,819 letters.

This protein is called Titin apparently derived from the Greek "Titan" (surprised? not.)

For those of you who want to see what it looks like, here it is:





No matter how much my inner scientist is sparked, I cannot help but see it as something reminiscent to the background effect in the Matrix movies.

And for those who are more of a listener than a reader, REJOICE! Here's a video of someone reading it to you. There's a catch though, it's a 3 and a half hour long video.



There's always more info at Wikipedia if you want to know beyond its name haha. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titin


Cheers
~Fox
Posted by Fox at 05:33 1 comments
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Monday 27 August 2012

Training for running herper derp stuff

Hi there readers! It's been a while (as usual) since I've updated. The recent weeks I've been training for a fitness test where I have to run 2.4km or 1.5 miles or 6 laps in at least 12 minutes. And I have to say, it's a massive difference between running on the treadmill and on the track itself. Long story short, running on the track for the first time last week totally destroyed whatever stamina I thought I've built up by training on the treadmill in the gym. Fortunately I soon got used to it and though performance-wise it wasn't as good, there have been improvements.

Yesterday I trained at a track and field next to le gf's house with le gf. It was a beautiful day and I am still wondering how I woke up at 6am to run. The track and field was quite new I reckon, really well maintained! Praise to the school if it isn't new haha.



Somehow the track felt small though, which made me wonder if it's really 400m per lap. But regardless, I was only doing stamina training so it was fine. I'm quite proud of my time:


However I'm not happy by the fact that I took one break after 30mins though I stopped the timer (kinda felt like I was cheating) as well as I kinda felt the fatigue get to me towards the end and had to walk for about 1 minute on the timer. When it comes to stamina training, for me, as I start to tire time seems to go slower and slower.

In this case as I ran for what seems like 10 minutes, in my mind it was like this:


And only about 1-2 minutes have passed. Okay.jpg

Oh! Though I find that running with headphones/earphones on with music playing is a good motivation and distraction from the pain.Which brings me to when I was on cooldown and just walking the track, this song came up:



I don't know why, but when it came to the chorus, it made me smile like some I don't know...


That's all peeps! Train hard play hard!

~Fox
Posted by Fox at 04:14 1 comments
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Sunday 24 June 2012

It's a beautiful morning!



Wake up, readers!

Beautiful Sunday today, nothing much other than showering Pancake (my dog). Just listened to that song which was shuffled in my playlist haha and I thought "What a fitting song for today!"

Have a happy happy Sunday everyone! Regardless of you sleeping in or being an busy bee, always spend time with your family ;D

And here's a picture of Pancake, isn't he precious? lol


Until next time!


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 04:25 6 comments
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Thursday 14 June 2012

2 Days of LiveWire Brunei - Bright Ideas


Hey all!

Just got back from a full day of activities and learning from an event by Brunei's LiveWire called Bright Ideas (BI). It's basically a little two day seminar aimed at teaching people the basics on how to start a business. I actually participated in another event a few weeks back called BSOM.

The turnout for the BI was alright, just 11 people including myself. I actually wanted to join 2 weeks ago however, it clashed with training at AIA. But I can finally join yay! And guess what, it's only $30! I believe that this event was a pretty good cool down and eye-opener for myself personally as well as professionally. We were thrown questions and when answered, the answer was questioned too until it concentrates down to a point. It's a pretty good two-way learning experience where trying is encouraged and there is no 100% right answer.

Most of the people who joined are the youths either in upper six form or in university or going to university. It felt fresh but many of them were quite shy; something they'll soon weed out when in University I'd reckon hahaha.

When I joined the first event, BSOM, I always felt a but awkward during introductions to the speakers... It was always name then "I'm a fresh graduate from so-and-so and I'm currently waiting for work". It didn't feel bad but it didn't feel good either; guess it was the feeling of not contributing? This time I can proudly say I'm employed as an insurance agent from AIA.

-RANT-
I don't really know how I feel about people's perception of me. A part of me am proud of who I am and what I do. The other part of me gets REALLY pissed off at so-called "friends" who not only bash what I do, but worst still, don't pick up my calls or reply my texts and so on.

OK, I'm getting derailed from the topic. Guess I just want to let off some steam hahaha.
-END OF RANT-

Anyways about LiveWire, I first saw an ad by LiveWire when I was in "Sims mode" looking at the newspaper everyday to see if there are any job vacancies available. The ad I saw was for BSOM, thinking I got nothing to do than waste away at home anyway, I went for it; it costed only $65 for 4 full days. Instantly, 4 days of my week was filled for once. BSOM was thoroughly satisfying in both what I learned as well as the people I met.

There's nothing much I can say here that will do them justice so if you really have an interest to start a business I do urge you to join it. You will not regret it I assure you.

If you wish to learn more, here's their website: http://www.livewire-brunei.com/index.php

All the best!


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 12:28 2 comments
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Friday 8 June 2012

Explaining traffic light to my siblings

Hey all.

A loooooooong time ago I somehow (in my random outburst of words while driving) explained traffic lights to my siblings.

"Green means "go la" obviously. Yellow means "uh oh you better hurry!" and Red means "Aiyah you see la, told you to go faster" lol" I said.

My sister reminded me recently and I lol'd. I usually don't remember the random outbursts and when someone repeats it to me ages later, I usually find it brilliant and ask who said that in the first place. When they say it was me my reaction is just "derp".

All the best, readers! :)

~Fox
Posted by Fox at 06:33 0 comments
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Sunday 3 June 2012

Loving Music, Loving Life

Hey everyone!

Lazy Sunday here in Brunei. After bringing my mum out for breakfast and then coming home, I came across a nice little titbit of music posted on Facebook (rare these days as most of the stuff I see are random propagandas and crap). It was an instrumental cover by these two talented individuals calling themselves "The Piano Guys" on Youtube.



The cover was on David Guetta's "Without You". Seriously, the tune blew me away. I was truly captivated by their rendition I ended up replaying it a few times. I've heard their take on the Star Wars themes before, and I loved it too, but this piece sent me over the edge and subscribed to them aha.

I have always been an avid lover of music, classical music was what I loved from the tender age of 10 or so. While everyone was taking a liking to the latest and greatest bands on those times, I went for Mozart and Beethoven. Come to think of it, I was a hipster before there were hipsters, huh. My closest friends didn't judge, much; only occasionally mentioning the music is putting them to sleep when they come over to stay for the night and as we should know, there's not "sleep" in sleepovers.

Like many others, I have musical aspirations, ever since I was young I wanted to be good in Guitar and Piano. However, my conflicting trait is that of sloth, I never got around to do it. The most I've done was learn "Tong Hua" by a singer called Guang Liang on the piano and started doing "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X but never finished. I even took it so far as buying a pricey guitar during my second year of university a few years back. I remember doing price research online for more than a week, looking at reviews, prices, and even looked for sound clips and videos so I can get a feel on how that model sounds. All was brilliant; then came the moment when I actually have to buy one. You know, I realise I'm awesome and grasping concepts and theories; it all plays out well in my mind, but when it comes to application, that's when only two words become dominant: "What do?" hahaha

On a certain capitalism day on the 14th of February 2009, a back-then-forever-alone me went to the music store in Canterbury, Kent, UK. I tried a few instruments, then who knows, through destiny or maybe even educated selection. I chose my guitar. Until today, strumming it sends a wave of euphoria, the sound of my guitar shakes my soul (lol dramatic much). But it's true, I never regretted getting this guitar, only regret not being hardworking enough to maximise it's use. However, regret is a wasted emotion, I should seriously pick it up again!

As I mentioned, I love music; it's a part of how I live everyday. If one of the days I go out without a song in my mind and heart, I know something's amiss. Sometimes I have a song stuck in my head, and I sing to it in my head; head-banging even. To everyone else, I'm some weirdo who's content with bobbing my head haha.

Well that was a long story to tell, hope it wasn't a bore :P

So, dear readers, how does music impact YOUR life?


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 04:59 5 comments
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Wednesday 30 May 2012

Awkward moment when...

... there's a spike in pageviews but you have no idea where it's from.

Hey all!

Nothing much nowadays. Just trying to secure appointments as well as playing too much of LoL. Neighbours pissing me off with their damn blasting from their cars and random karaokes. Just normal stuff in my world lol.
I've been catching lots of nice tunes with Soundhound and basically just looking for them.

Been getting tired early at night nowadays. Not sure if it's because I don't go into night owl mode recently or I'm just getting tired at random lol.

Half an hour ago my shuffled playlist went into a song called Parade by a group called CHABA.


It's Japanese and one of the theme music for the anime, Naruto. Though I don't watch the series, I have this song for some reason. The beauty I find in this song is the Shimasen (the Japanese lute) and the simplicity. To me, if you have an awesome carefree moment, this song will play.

 And for some reason, unlike the last hundred times which this song played, I had a flashback of my first year in the UK as a university freshman (we call them freshers). The path I took to and from classes on campus, bus rides, Nandos with my buddies, the cool-cold air of autumn-winter. All those memories; time does fly freaking fast. It's already been 5 years since then; I miss those times. Reminiscing is good, but it's best not to dwell! Reality is harsher hahaha, what can I say other than screw it just do it?

As for the first sentence, I logged on this afternoon to see there was a massive spike in views but I can't make out what it was from. I don't know why I like to look at the blog stats; it's probably just my habit of going from Comments to Stats.

All the best, dear readers! Love life!

~Fox
Posted by Fox at 14:37 4 comments
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Monday 28 May 2012

Welcome to the real world~

Hey all!

Meh. I started writing about stuff back in the early week of May. And then nothing- I really thought there would be some more growth in Tales this month to be honest. During the past few weeks was quite busy on most days. On days which weren't busy, it felt like a waste being indoors.

Well I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? A little over a week ago, I was drafted into an insurance company. By drafted I mean I took and passed all the exams LOL so I should use the term "contracted". To be honest I was really sceptical about the industry as a career because, well, it's stereotyping right? Everyone who thinks  of an insurance agent thinks of a persistent and annoying person who keeps chasing you. I didn't want to be drafted because I for one (ironically) hate being called by strangers as I am VERY suspicious.

Well anyway, generally I've been attending classes and seminars on the how to and what do's. I've made appointments with friends and many were supportive and were OK with listening to my little presentation. Some even gave positive feedback which, to me, was priceless. Everything is fine until you reach the end of your contact lists; no one to call, no business, that's the rule of this trade. This is where it gets bumpy, who do you call? I do realise I should call my closest to share the benefits; so I'll see where that goes.

The company has been brilliant on calling people who are successful in this field to motivate and teach us. I often wonder if I can handle this in the long term. I guess I'm taking a bigger bite on the cake of life than I should at the moment. I should just nibble haha.

All in all, if you're in Brunei and would be interested in this little 20 minute presentation I have to give on Financial Health Check, do drop me a line ;)

As for the cover photo... I typed "real world" into google image search and got nothing useful. And off the top of my head I just searched the first thing that was on my mind. And strangely came to the Sword in the Stone. For those who don't know the story, it's a nice little tale about King Arthur on how he was chosen by the blade set in stone. The Sword may only be pulled out by the Chosen One which turns out to be Arthur who became the king of England.

I don't know what compelled me to do think of this photo. Might be some internal strife I'd reckon; a mental wall I have to challenge myself to scale in order to reap the rewards on the other side. I must not give up!


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 11:50 2 comments
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Monday 7 May 2012

Instagram?

Hey all!

Man, I've been posting more in these few days than I've done in the past few months huh? Not that I'm proud of being inactive, mind you. Recently I've just gotten more of the feeling of when I started Tales. That brilliant feeling of wanting to share my thoughts with you readers, anonymous on the internet as an entity I don't know.

As always, thank you very much if you're a regular reader. It REALLY does mean a lot to me that you guys keep coming back for more random posts. As you might have seen, Fox's Tales isn't a specialist blog for food or hobbies. It's just my... pensive I guess. Just feeding thoughts into it and leave it as that.

On to what I want to say.

Many bloggers I've seen  have at least once or twice complained about microblogging sites such as Twitter. It's true that having a quick one liner that you agree with saves you time. But I do feel like doing so robs people of their writing aptitude. You don't need to think much and just say a sentence. That is, of course, only my personal views.

Hand in hand with these sites are apps like Instagram. Ironically, I don't mind using this app. Though it serves the same purpose of microblogging. Only using pictures. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I do feel like a hypocrite bashing Twitter but using Instagram, but meh, I use it out of satisfaction haha.

On the note of Instagram, if you want to follow me, find me at foxeh88. You'll see random pictures I don't post here. You won't be too disappointed with the picture feeds I assure you. ;D

I guess this post is totally a shameless plug to my probably near-zero reader base. But hey! At least you get a random post from me today too! Hahaha!

See you on Hipstergram!


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 06:11 2 comments
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Sunday 6 May 2012

SoundHound!

Hey guys!

So literally a half hour ago, I was bored so I whipped out my SoundHound app to check out what songs that I found nice so I can look for and listen to it on the internet.

Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. What is SoundHound you say? Basically it's an app which listens to music, and then tells you what song it is, including information like whether it's a remix, lyrics, music videos and so on.

It is one of my most favourite apps on my iPhone (yes, hipster much). Especially when driving, you hear a nice song on the radio and the DJ tells you the name of the track. But if you're like me, you'd likely forget about it by the time the next few songs play. Or maybe I'd just forget about it completely when I get home even with knowing name and artist. So to me it's wonderful really, an app that tells you what the song is, if you tell me something like this will happen during my teen years, I'd probably cream my pants in anticipation.

As you can see from the post it's not a review but just me wanting to share this really great app for music lovers.

It's available on the both the Apple and Android appstore. At least I think it is lol.

Hope you guys like it as much as I do. ;D

~Fox
Posted by Fox at 04:07 0 comments
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Friday 4 May 2012

May the 4th Be With You!

Hey all!

Apparently, today is the annual Star Wars day. You may or may not know, I'm an avid Star Wars fan (to the point I'm willing to spend on a pricey lightsaber under the brand Force FX).

Anyway, I just want to shout out to any of my readers who like Star Wars too.

May the 4th be with you!


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 16:31 0 comments
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Wednesday 2 May 2012

The Avengers 2012 Quick Review

Hey readers!

First of all, if you're still subscribed, or you stumbled upon this blog some how, thanks for taking the time to read and in the case of people who come back, THANK YOU FOR NOT FORGETTING ME!

It's been AGES since I've actually posted anything here.. Which is quite sad, I don't know why it turned out the way it did :(

Anyways,

Quick review of the Avengers of those who still haven't watched it. It's a beastly 5/5!!! Do go and watch it! I'd love to see it in 3D as I saw lots of scenes which would seem to work well with the 3D effects.

If you like super hero movies, you'd LOVE this. It takes the essence and feeling of watching or reading superhero shows and comics and turns it into a 2 and a half hour of bliss!

While I do admit the beginning wasn't the strongest of starts, after the title, it just skyrockets. I absolutely love the humour in the movie. Wait. What? You thought I said it was a superhero movie and not a comedy? I DID say it was a superhero movie. But the humour in it comes at odd times and strangely fits perfectly. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man is simply brilliant; he brings out the arrogance of Tony Stark in making blunt remarks.

If you're sceptical about the movie because of all the hype it's been getting, then I suggest you go in with an open mind, don't expect it to be epic and you won't be disappointed, I assure you.

Highly recommended movie and a blockbuster for sure. It won't disappoint!


~Fox


P.S. As with all Marvel movies, stay until after the credits for some delicious goodies. ;D
Posted by Fox at 12:26 0 comments
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Thursday 23 February 2012

Happy National Day Brunei!!!


HAPPY NATIONAL DAY TO ALL BRUNEIANS! (Those who are following my not-even-half-assed blog anyway)

I really can't believe it's already been a year since I did that National day post back when I was in the UK.

As for updates, I haven't been up to much back home... Looking for work and might to look for something part time for the time being..

On a different topic, I adopted a doggie a few years back :D Right  before Chinese New Year at the end of January.

Man I really should update more eh? I guess I started the blog because I wanted to post randomities and yet I've not been doing it enough justice lol. Just lazing and letting the blog wilt away while most of my pageviews are not even from people visiting; just people looking at my Ninjago dragon pictures trololol.

Anyway, take care everyone! I'll update if there's anything worth saying aha.


~Fox
Posted by Fox at 04:25 4 comments
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