Johari window...

Ok i think this is the current craze. Can u all fill this up for me please? It's just something interesting for me to read. Hee. Thanks a lot!! =)

http://kevan.org/johari?name=weizhen

Sporadic notes...

Yay!! One more day before SEA Jam!! Three full days of dancing. What more can i say? I'm going to be in paradise...

Trusty, hardy companion, The Blueee Baggy retorted that "Enough is enough" and that my ill-treatment of her should end. She made her grievances known by tearing a hole in herself. Ouch! Why torture herself like that?! OK, my fault. Shouldn't stretch and test her limits by dumping ten tonnes of rubbish into her. Time to atone for my mistake. Time to bring out the needle and thread. I sometimes marvel at my patience to sew things. I love sewing. The same cannot be said about piecing puzzles though. Puzzles and I just don't click. I'd feel giddy after an hour into it.

When u get extremely busy, you're forced to be very focused. I think i've never been so focused since JC. With very measly resting time in between, my typical day goes something like this now: read papers, practice piano, do music theory paper, study chemistry test, do group discussion, do assignments to be handed in, go to school. This will go on till 11th March. In 2 weeks time, my laughters will travel and my spirits will elevate to the realm of ecstasy. Anyone game for any fun after that, bring it on!! I'm game for anything and everything, but of cos they have to lay within the legal boundaries.

Ms CHS has a good friend YL who loves to look at women's shapely calves. CHS thinks of it as a perverse affection. I beg to differ because I love looking at shapely, toned curves of bodies too. Male, female, animals (?!). I think body forms are beautiful. Toned torso. Wow. Well-endowed chest. Wooh. Pert derriere. Wah. Ok, you get the drift. I better stop before you think what i write is an affront of whatever kind or that i deserve a place at IMH. I don't think i'm sick. I really do find them very beautiful and i'm not afraid to admit that. And i believe that having a body in good shape is the best accessory you can ever have to complement your dressing. Cheap and good. The only challenge is discipline. :P

Apologies needed?

Sorry if i've been less helpful than i should lately. I've been selfish. I want more time to myself. I want to help but i feel too burdened. Sorry to anyone who feels that i've not been a good friend recently. Bleah.

Now to share something with anyone who feels down in life, for whatever reasons. Here's a short extract from the book, The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck. I think there's great truth in it although it may sound simplistic or commonsensical:

Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. (The first of the 'Four Noble Truths' which Buddha taught was 'Life is suffering'.) It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. They voice their belief, noisily or subtly, that their difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction that should not be and that has somehow been especially visited upon them, or else upon their families, their tribe, their class, their nation, their race or even their speciies, and not upon others.

Compliments from Ms Chew who found a similar question on the net. http://www.teamten.com/lawrence/puzzles/daughters.html

My only complaint is that the original question given to me does not say that the king has 3 daughters, which i think makes a lot of difference to the question ;P

Puzzle: A man in my neighborhood has three daughters. One day when I asked their ages he said, “The product of their ages is 36.”
When I still couldn't find their ages he said, “Ok. I'll give you another clue: the sum of their ages is same as the number of my house.”
I knew the number but still couldn't calculate their ages. So the man gave me a last clue, “My eldest daughter lives upstairs.”
Finally I was able to figure out their ages. How old are they?

Answer: The ages are 2, 2, and 9.

Solution: There are only so many ways that three numbers can have a product of 36:
1 × 1 × 36 = 361 × 2 × 18 = 361 × 3 × 12 = 361 × 4 × 9 = 361 × 6 × 6 = 362 × 2 × 9 = 362 × 3 × 6 = 363 × 3 × 4 = 36
It's got to be one of these, but we don't know which one. The second clue is about the sum of their ages:
1 + 1 + 36 = 381 + 2 + 18 = 211 + 3 + 12 = 161 + 4 + 9 = 141 + 6 + 6 = 132 + 2 + 9 = 132 + 3 + 6 = 113 + 3 + 4 = 10
The narrator knew the number of the man's house, so the only way that this clue didn't help him is if the sum is 13, in which case it's still ambiguous. So we know the ages are either 1, 6, and 6, or 2, 2, and 9.
The third clue makes a reference to the oldest daughter, so the ages must be 2, 2, and 9.
(It's true that there could still be an "oldest" daughter in the case of 1, 6, and 6, since they could be 10 months apart and both be 6. But since the man gave this as a clue, we can assume that it's suppose to push us towards the 2, 2, and 9 solution.)

Stop it please!!

Dear Mind,
please stop thinking too much. Life would be easier if you can take a break once in a while. In fact, the more the merrier. I will never hold it against you. Never. Especially when it's bedtime or when i have tons of things to do. Don't wear so many thinking hats at one time. It's too heavy. They'll crush you. I don't want you to wither before your time is up.

It would be good too if you know that you belong to me and that you shall obey me. Do not wander off on your own. Come back when i need you.

Take a break when i'm practicing piano. I need to be in the meditative state when i'm at it. Any clutter on your part makes me feel as though i'm only creating noise. And i get irritated when i feel i'm creating noise and it becomes a vicious cycle. Mind wanders, no clean state of mind, create noise when playing, irritated, mind wanders more, a less clean state of mind, create more noise when playing, blah, blah, blah.

Do me a favour, please. I do want to live in perfect harmony with you.

Your dear OWNER

The answer...

The answer to the problem is 2,2,9. Go figure out why...heehee..

It got to me...Arghhh..

My cousin came to me with a maths problem that her teacher had given her. It goes like this:

A king is looking for a wise man. He held a contest in search for one wise one. The contest consisted of solving this problem. “The product of the ages of the king’s daughters is 36 and the sum is equal to the number of gates in the royal palace. Determine the age of the princesses.” The most intelligent contestant approached the king after thinking through the problem and said, “Your Highness, I am missing one piece of information.” The king promptly replied “The oldest of my daughters has blue eyes.” The contestant immediately gave the ages of the princesses. What was his answer?

This is a sec one problem. Tell me if I'm stupid. I could not find out the answer. What about you?

My thought process below:
The oldest of my daughters -- meaning there are at least 3 daughters.
Based on possible permutations of products, the following can be derived:
1 x 2 x 3 x 6 Sum = 12
2 x 3 x 6 (2 x 2 x 3 x 3) Sum = 11
1 x 2 x 18 (or 1 x 2 x 2 x 9) Sum=21
1 x 3 x 12 (or 1 x 3 x 3 x 4) Sum= 16
1 x 4 x 9 (or 1 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3) Sum=14

Assuming that there are no twins, the oldest daughter can be 6, 9, 12 or 18.

My hair was a mish-mesh of bird's nest after trying to pull them out from the frustration i suffered from not being able to solve the problem.

I concocted all possible explanations to eliminate some answers. Ridiculous by any standards, but that's what happens when you're trying all possible means to squeeze out an answer. I believe i've superseded my present level of absurdity with my explanations below! LOL :)

Non sequitur is my first name for the day. Ha. Solid, flawed arguments.
1) Blue eyes. Is it connected to blue moon? If it's blue moon, maybe the answer is 12 or 18 since blue moon only happens once a year or less, (or never?!!?). Probability of blue moon will thus be 1/12 or 1/18 (or 0/infinity?!?), hence deriving the numbers 12 or 18.

2) Gates have to come in pairs since gates in the medieval periods always have two doors. Assuming two doors = two gates, the summation of ages must be an even number. My most ridiculous explanation yet! Yes, yes i know. Gates and doors are different. One gate can have two doors and the summation of gates can still be an odd number.

2) My sis offered that blue is a primary colour. Primary colour has an equivalent status as prime number. So look for a prime number. But alas, 6, 9, 12 and 18 are not prime numbers!!

Any wise one out there who knows the answer? My cousin's teacher gave the clue that "the oldest of the daughters has blue eyes" is the crux of the matter.

Blue eyes, blue eyes, why is this the key to the answer?

Oh man, I can't sleep tonight without knowing the answer! I NEED TO KNOW! :P

Me unrealistic?

Was rummaging through my stuff to be thrown away during the massive spring-cleaning exercise at home and chanced upon this psychometric assessment exercise i did during JC. Apart from shedding some light about my aptitudes [very high ability in general reasoning compared to peers (yay!), very good critical reasoning skills with written materials (yay!), good numerical reasoning skills (ok, i concede my maths is shit!)], my vocational interest scores were also tabulated as below:

Realistic = 10
Social = 38
Investigative = 21
Enterprising = 37
Artistic = 30
Conventional = 20

People are classified into the 6 broad interest types as set out above by Dr John Holland in 1971. I wonder how true or relevant the result of this exercise is now, given that it was done so many years back. Anyway, read it with a pinch of salt :P

A person whose interest type falls into the Social category:
Likes to help, teach and counsel others. Values social service, fairness, understanding. Sees self as emphathic, patient, and having more social skills than mechanical ability. Seen by others as helpful, agreeable, outgoing, patient. Avoids mechanical and technical activity.

A person whose interest type falls into the Enterprising category:
Likes to persuade or direct others. Values financial and social success, loyalty, risk-taking, responsibility. Sees self as confident, sociable, and havin gmore sales and persuasive ability than scientific ability. Seen by others as energetic, extroverted, shrew, ambitious. Avoids scientific, intellectual, or complicated topics.

A person whose interest type falls into the Artistic category:
Likes to read books, and engage in musical or artistic activities, writing. Values creative ideas, self-expression, beauty. Sees self as open to experience, imaginative, intellectual, and having better creative skills than clerical or office skills. Seen by others as unusual, disorderly, creative, sensitive. Avoids routines and rules.

A person whose interest type falls into the Conventional category:
LIkes to follow orderly routines and meet clear standards. Values accuracy, making money, thrift, power in business or social affairs, sees self as having better technical skills in business or production than artistic abilities, conscientious, practical

A person whose interest type falls into the Investigative category:
LIkes to explore and understand things and events. Values knowledge, learning, achievement, independence. Sees self as analytical, intelligent, skeptical and having better academic skills than social skills. Seen by others as intelligent, introverted, scholarly, indepedent. Avoids having to persuade others or sell them things.

A person whose interest type falls into the Realistic category:
Likes to use machines and tools. Values honesty, common sense and moneytary rewards for tangible accomplishments. Sees self as practical, conservative, and having better manual and mechanical skills than social skills. Seen by others as humble, frnak, self-reliant, persistent. Avoids interaction with other people.