Medicine, Music, & Musings
Tag: 2019-02
Have you ever wondered how the digits and letters within your NRIC relate to one another? The most recent news shrouding the NRIC concerns the nature of its collection, use, and disclosure. According to a Straits Times article published last August, it will be illegal for organisations to collect, use, or disclose NRIC numbers or … Continue reading 01(19): How to determine the last NRIC letter from the starting letter, and digits
Excuse the pun. I just had to do it. In Singapore, we drive on the left side of the road. As such, people use the right lanes for overtaking, and so, it is natural for expressway exits to branch out from the left-most lane on the highway, so that cars on the right lanes can … Continue reading 01(18): The last right-side expressway exit left in Singapore
What image is conjured in your mind when you encounter the word "Latin"? You would probably think of a bunch of old priests in parishes chanting in an esoteric language, and indeed - you would be right. As I type this, I am reminded of James Joyce's phenomenal encyclopaedic novel, Ulysses. I shall first talk … Continue reading 01(17): Joyce’s Ulysses, and the legacy of Latin
As I hopped on to my computer to conduct a search on Google this morning, I noticed that today's doodle featured lanterns. Did you notice that there is a pig in lieu of what would be the second letter 'o'? Hahaha. In Singapore, people are busy with their work and school and oftentimes, if there … Continue reading 01(16): Lantern Festival – the Chinese Valentine’s Day
I can still remember exactly how I started learning the piano. My family had paid a visit to Plaza Singapura and as a boy at the tender age of six, I marvelled at the majesty of the grand pianos that were showcased at one of the top levels of the mall. For those who are … Continue reading 01(15): How I started tickling the ivories, quit, then rekindled my love for music
'His Robes For Mine' is a hymn consisting of text by Chris Anderson and tune by Greg Habegger. I first heard of this hymn at the conclusion of my church's youth fellowship camp last December. This hymn was used as the background music of the church camp's montage. The montage was shown at the end … Continue reading 01(14): What I learnt from ‘His Robes For Mine’
On the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year, my family paid my maternal grandparents a visit. In the living room of their residence sat an upright, and it was the piano with which I had grown up. In fact, my earliest videos on my Youtube channel feature that Christofori upright. That … Continue reading 01(13): Why grands are generally better than uprights
I used to wonder why the train ride between Caldecott (CC17) and Botanic Gardens (CC19) was unusually long (5-min) while taking the train home from school. I looked at the MRT network map and then realised that there was a skip from CC17 to CC19! Usually, train rides are 2-3 minutes. Sometimes, they can be … Continue reading 01(12): Why isn’t there a CC18 on the Circle Line?
People in their early twenties will remember Disney's High School Musical series. The first of the existing HSM trilogy was released on 20 January 2006 as a Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM). It has been the most successful DCOM yet. Songs from its soundtrack such as 'Breaking Free' and 'We're All In This Together' became … Continue reading 01(11): How this song’s title (‘Everyday’) left me bemused for a long time
As a child, I visited my grandmother weekly and one thing that caught my attention was a calendar with which I was not familiar. Compared to the calendar I was accustomed to, this one had more 'annotations' and peculiar symbols. It looked something like this: This calendar has many names; it is known as the … Continue reading 01(10): Making sense of the Chinese calendar
The tenth and twelfth month in our calendar are October and December respectively. Yet, the prefixes of these months suggest otherwise. Has this ever puzzled you? The prefixes 'oct-' and 'dec-' come derive from Greek and they mean eight and ten respectively. With the prefix 'oct-', you have words such as 'octagon' (an eight-sided polygon), … Continue reading 01(09): On months and seasons
We deal with them all the time. 'Arrghh, I hate Mondays; Monday blues!' is something that is commonly heard. 'Let's have lunch on Saturday'. 'I have dinner with my family on Sunday'. 'I have a dental appointment on Wednesday'. These sentences are not unusual, and we do not give the days' names a second thought … Continue reading 01(08): Days of the week
Nicholas Loh 