Happy Birthday again!

Yup happy birthday again! This time to my mum!

Ok her birthday was definitely going to be more than just a few warcraft pics so those now famous pics of mine are not around. Instead I cooked her a special meal! Some Spanish(I think) thingy called quiche and some salmon with Italian herbs. Sounds cool? Sadly, it didn’t really turn out as cool as it sounded.

But it was still good! Though there were many minor hiccups along the way of my foray back into cooking after a break of more than 1 year. The last time I can remember cooking was at paul cheong’s house I think… I havn’t cooked since entering army.

So started off with the simple task of cooking the veg. Everything had been cut washed and prepared nicely when I realize that my mum had changed the place we put our cooking oil since a yr ago. And I can’t find it. holy shit. Worse still, after I found it, I realized that I hadn’t chop the garlic. Up there lah, I’m pretty sure that 2 years ago I would never have forgotten these things.

Anyway, after veg and mushrooms are done and transferred into a nice pot for the next stage of cooking, it looks like this

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Now the eggs and milk, I must say my egg beating skills just rock. My house DOESN”T HAVE AN EGG BEATER, so I beat it with a spoon. To perfection =) ok fine, near perfection. End product looks like this

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Add it to the bowl of veg and mushies, add parmesan and cheddar cheese and bake, and the quiche is done! And it’s good!!! Only bad thing is that there’s way too much.

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

A bowl this size is >>> 3 ppl. Way too much for 3 ppl. But still qte happy wif it.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the salmon, so I shan’t really say much abt it. It’s good tasting, but not as good as I tot it would be. Below expectation. Yup. Anyway, the final thing looks like this

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Yup yup happy birthday!

Next estimated post date: 1-3 may 09

Happy Birthdays!

ok i'm at it again.

AND

ok i know gerard's one abit cram despite using short form. And chinny's one have to use initials else too long. but nonetheless i hope they're ok! enjoy ur birthdays! chinny past 1 day while gerard's one will be spent in taiwan. lol

Next estimated post date: 26 april 09

yet another article

lol i wanted to post about something else one, but this article caought my eye. So this post first, the something else another time. Here it is.

Bad mood, better recall, researchers find


SYDNEY (AFP) - - People grumbling their way through the grimness of winter have better recall than those enjoying a carefree, sunny day, Australian researchers have found.

The University of New South Wales team used a Sydney news agency to test whether people's moods had an impact on their ability to remember small details.

Researchers placed 10 small items on the shop counter, including a toy cannon, red bus and a piggy bank, and quizzed shoppers about what they remembered seeing upon their exit.

Lead researcher Joseph Forgas said subjects were able to remember three times as many items on cold, windy, rainy days when there was sombre classical music playing as they were when conditions were sunny and bright.

Rainy-day shoppers were also less likely to have false memories of objects that weren't there, said Forgas.

"We predicted and found that weather-induced negative mood improved memory accuracy," he wrote in the study, which was published in the latest edition of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

"Shoppers in a negative mood showed better memory and higher discrimination ability."

Forgas said a worse mood helped to focus people's attention on their surroundings and led to a more thorough and careful thinking style, while happiness tended to reduce focus and increase both confidence and forgetfulness.

"This finding suggests that some allowance for such mood effects could be incorporated in applied domains such as legal, forensic, counselling and clinical practice," he said.


ok point of article? study when u're in a bad mood when it's raining outside =)

Next estimated post date: 19-21 april 09

how to improve your eyesight

I chanced upon this article a few days ago.


PARIS (AFP) - - Slaying hordes of bad guys -- the more the better -- in fast-paced video games improves vision, a study published Sunday showed for the first time.

Far from being harmful to eyesight, as some had feared, action games such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, or Left 4 Dead provide excellent training for what eye doctors call contrast sensitivity, the study found.

Contrast sensitivity is the ability to notice tiny changes in shades of grey against a uniform background, and is critical to everyday activities such as night driving and reading. It often degrades with age.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, reveal a previously unsuspected adaptability in the brain, and could open the way to new therapies, the researchers said.

"This is not a skill that people were supposed to get better at by training," said Daphne Bavelier, a professor at the University of Rochester in New York state and the study's lead researcher.

"It was something that we corrected for at the level of the optics of the eye -- to get better contrast detection you get glasses or laser surgery."

"What we found is that even without this correction you can help your brain make better use of whatever information is received from your retina," she said in a phone interview.

For the study, Bavelier and three colleagues conducted two sets of experiments.

In the first, they compared the contrast sensitivity of hard-core action game players with video game aficionados of the same age who preferred less rapid-fire fare.

In action games, players typically target and shoot figures that pop up suddenly on a computer screen.

The researchers found that the action buffs were 50 percent more efficient at detecting contrast.

But there remained a chicken-or-egg question: had their vision been improved by playing, or did they become action game players because they had better than average contrast sensitivity to start with?

To find out, Bavelier asked two groups of non-action video game players to undergo 50 hours of training. One played a popular point-and-shoot game called Call of Duty, and the other played a game that offered a rich visual experience, but one bereft of action.

"We found that the people in the first group improved by 43 percent, and the other group not at all," she said.

As important, the study also found that the improvement was not transitory. "The positive effect remained months, even years after training, indicating long-lasting gains," she added.

Is there some limit beyond which playing action games loses its positive effect or becomes detrimental? Can you, in other words, have too much of a "good thing"?

"For your visual system, probably not. For your social life, perhaps," said Bavelier.

yup end of article.

wah this could actually be used as an excuse to play left 4 dead huh. though i havn't played that for more than a month cuz nobody plays wif me =(

and that, along wif the fact that my warcraft 3 is not patched up, means i havn't played comp games wif anyone for more than a month le. oh yeah!

Next estimated post date: 12 or 18-19 april 09

lalala

Ok it's been more than a month since i made that random emo post that turned out to be the last post on this blog for a long long time. That fact changes today. NOW.

And since calls for the rest of the ppl involved in this blog to do something abt reviving the blog has gone rather unanswered, i shall treat this like it's my own little blog(wooh no need to go through trouble of creating own blog!!!) and post random stuff. which chances are will not concern much abt the rest of this class. which won't really matter cuz i bet 70% of the class will not read this anyway. think it'll just be me, rard, sc, lz and occasionally jameson. hmm. 5 ppl. looks like the 70% is an underestimation then.

ok to keep this blogging going, i'll post the expected date of the next post at the end of every post. That gives me no reason to slack off, and give readers an estimated date of coming back to the blog instead of checking repeatedly to find it not updated which puts ppl off.

The revival/transformation starts now.
Next estimated post date: 9-10 april 09

random thoughts

Something never fails to bewilder me. How can anything go wrong in a short time? It would logically seem that something that takes a thousand years to build would require at least hundreds of years to take down, but things just don't seem to work that way. Empires that take hundreds of years to build can be crushed in a few days. A castle that takes years to build can be defeated in hours. A piece of work painstakingly done over a few days can be gone in mins. And friendships built over 4 years can be gone in a week.

Now that we do not have an answer as to why things can go wrong in such a short time, we think about what could have caused it to go wrong. but usually the answer will evade the seeker for a long time. It takes long studies by generations down the road to finally figure out how an empire collapsed in a few days. It takes structural engineers and warfare historians months to figure out how a castle did not withstand an attack. It takes weeks, months, even years before you figure out why someone would destroy a piece of work you spent so much time on. but sadly, lost friendships are seldom figured out.

Why? Why is it that while it takes a long time to figure out some things, some things are never figured out? If you bring it with regards to friendship, the answer is surprisingly simple. EGO.

A mutual trust that disappears between people may leave the people involved stunned as to why it can happen. But if they are looking for an answer, they need not look any further than at themselves. This is when ego comes in. It steps in, shields the people from the answer, and leave red herrings everywhere, usually at other people. Few people realise that when friendships are lost, usually BOTH OR ALL the parties involved are at fault. It is seldom the fault of anyone solely. Yet ego tends to block this from being seen, from being realised.

Anyway, moving on to another thought, ever since something happened a few years back, i'm been pretty obsessed with this number 30 000. especially if this number is linked to finances. How much difference can $30 000 do to a person? to his family? A lot, it seems, at this point in time. Sleepless nights, quarrels, brainstorming, changes in attitude, bonds forged, bonds broken. You name it, you probably have it. Both fortunately and unfortunately, this changes take place internally, and is seldom detected by anyone not involved, unless they are esp observant and close to the people involved. Fortunate because it keeps out unwanted nosying by unwanted people, unfortunate because some close friends or potentially close friends do not understand the change, do not understand the circumstances, do not understand the gravity of the circumstances. People who have not been involved with this number, 30 000, do not fully understand the actions, mentality, and attitude of people who are involved. This makes it tough for people involved to fit in with the rest. Life has always been a juggling act, and this juggling act just got tougher.

Anyway, i always believed in the saying that no one is irreplaceable. but yet, i'm being forced to eat my own words. and in dire circumstances as well. It brings to mind something mentioned in "the day the earth stood still", that only in dire circumstances do people change. Why? Wouldn't it be better off if people changed before encountering those circumstances?

It's ok. I've learned many lessons. And i'll remember them. every single one of them.

.. ..-. .- --. .. .-. .-.. - .... .-. --- .-- ... .- - .- -. - .-. ..- -- --..-- -.. --- -. --- - .... .- -. --. ..- .--.

left 4 dead achievements

I recently realised that there's an achievements thingy in left 4 dead. These achievements are given to you when you do something special, sort of like a quest like that. There are 50 of them, and i've managed to achieve 30 of them(most qte easy one). The other 20 are not easy, and need the team to be well co-ordinated. It's hard to explain without seeing it, so let's just see what they are.

Some of the easy ones which i've done and i'm sure all of you can do:

DRAG AND DROP
Rescue a Survivor from a Smoker's tongue before he takes damage.

PYROTECHNICIAN
Blow up 20 Infected in a single explosion.

TOWERING INFERNO
Light a Tank with a Molotov.

and the list goes on. let's look at the harder ones which i've done(qte proud of some of them).

CLEAN KILL
Shove a Boomer and then kill him without him splashing on anyone.

TANKBUSTERS
Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.

WITCH HUNTER
Kill a Witch without any Survivor taking damage from her.

BACK 2 HELP
Leave a safe room to save an incapped teammate and bring them back safely.

All 4 Dead
Kill all four Survivors on one life as a Tank.

CR0WND
Kill a Witch with a single headshot.
(This one was damn tyco, did it once and then nvr managed it again)

MAN VS TANK
Single-handedly kill a Tank.
(WOOT)


So if i've already gotten all these y do i still want to play? Why do i want all of you to play and get more pro? cuz 1. it's fun and 2. my friend challenged me to get some of the achievements he has gotten(which i havn't), and i can't do them without a good team. like these...

JUMP SHOT
Headshot a Hunter while he's leaping.
(ok this one not so much abt the team, just need to be abit more tyco. like the one i did to the witch)

AKIMBO ASSASSIN
Survive an entire campaign using only pistols.
(this is what i mean by need a good team)

UNBREAKABLE
Finish a campaign without ever using a first aid kit on yourself.

STOMACH UPSET
All Survivors complete a campaign without being vomited on.

SAFETY FIRST
Play an entire campaign with no Survivors taking friendly fire damage.


And hopefully i can complete some which he hasn't completed yet. like these...

ZOMBICIDAL MANIAC
Survive any campaign on Expert.

UNTOUCHABLES
No Survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle.

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVE?
Survive all campaigns on Expert.

NOTHING SPECIAL
Survive a campaign with no Survivors taking damage from Special Infected.

Whee. so wanna play when we have the time? When i come back from prowling arnd the airport. which is some time arnd may. lol sad.

MORE games!

Haha our blog came alive! but it's like transforming into a game blog.

btw wif regards to a previous post, i made a mistake (the mistake has been rectified). l4d can rival diablo II and WoW in awards, not starcraft. When starcraft came out, it swept all the game of the year awards. how imba is that. l4d only had a clean sweep in multiplayer awards. Game of the year 2008 is quite shared between left 4 dead, MGS 4, GTA 4, and fallout 3.

So there'll be very high expectations for starcraft 2. i dun think it'll do as well as its predecessor, but it'll still be good. It's ok sc, when it comes out we'll play it. and d3 too, since u lost ur d2. very sian to fight on in hell difficulty alone, so i stopped playing it. Luckily, left 4 dead came out. As wing, rard, occ and lz found out on sat, l4d seriously rocks.

Anw, it's time for me to start walking arnd changi airport looking impt. Just finish some police course that qualifies me to do that. Anyone going changi airport tell me pls. then you can help me buy food and stuff since i'm not supposed to do it in that green uniform of mine. Thanks. lol.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today's valentine's day! in case you haven't realised. So, happy valentine's day!

I'd like to gush about how great starcraft II is, and how everyone should play it when it comes out, but I've got dota to play. Anyhow, I prefer d3 to sc2.

Happy Valentines' Day!

Tmr's valentines' day! in case you havn't realise.

So, happy valentines' day in advance!

I LOVE YOU!!!! LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG!!!

-

pic from left 4 dead. lol

-

lalala

2008's best game

Ok enough of warcraft III. and dota. They weren't particularly great games, just games with great fanbases. So, it's time for some publicity for a game whose awards can rival that of Diablo II and world of warcraft(still lose to starcraft duh).

Presenting the BEST game of 2008 ----

LEFT 4 DEAD!!!!

-

Ok mayb fallout 3 deserves the title as well. Or 'metal gear solid 4'(never heard of it, just seems that people are infatuated with it). But that's besides my point. Left 4 Dead is a compelling game that elevates the idea of teamwork to whole new levels. Teamwork has rarely been so desperately necessary, or as tense and exciting, as it is in Left 4 Dead. Many games can emphasize teamwork, but none compels you to exercise it to an extent equivalent to this.

-

You need teamwork to play dota well, but a hero can still stand alone in the midst of a massive gang from the enemy and still survive and win. Counter-Strike emphasizes teamwork, but you can stand alone and still take out the whole opponent team. The same goes for unreal tournament and many other FPS and RTS games.

-

Not left 4 dead. Survival when stranded alone drops to an absolute zero. You need your team, your team needs you. Fight together... or die alone. This game bests all other fps, including the famed CS and Gears of War, and is definitely worth playing.

-

It's time to drop your dependence on dota to satisfy your gaming needs guys. Left 4 dead is available at both lan shops and garena. Time to change to a more fun and exciting game =)

-

-

noobify†™

lalala

yong sheng

AYAR?

For those of you who are not-so-proficient at AYAR, here is a sneak preview of what the end looks like:

Well, maybe not exactly the end. Cuz you got to go through a few more obstacles.

THIS is the end....or so I think.

Happy Chinese New Year

I was at home on CNY eve, after returning from reunion dinner, and having nothing better to do, decided to talk with Jameson on MSN (because he's very sad no one else talks with him =( ) And, at the same time, I noticed that this blog has been devoid of any real posts not just recently, but for a long time. Not that this is a real post, mind you. Whenever I'm free, or for that matter, whenever we're free, either we're out enjoying ourselves, watching TV, or playing dota on garena rm 16. Except for Jameson who's very free being CBRD staff officer, but has no time to blog, nor the inclination to dota....It appears that he forgot his username and password and cannot blog as a result.

So bottom line is:

We should blog more. Or have class outings sometime! and strive towards A Happy And Prosperous Chinese New Year.

PS To Chinny: Jameson says that your mind is messed up.

class buffet..

okies.

gratz to all the officers! one bar! ehh and your green IC says officer.. hee.. time for a treat hur! (: treat the commoners first! haha

ehh.. class outing.. i was thinking since we got many good eaters. why not we go crystal jade xiao long bao steam boat buffet? holland V there..

menu: free flow of xiao long bao , and some char shao bao.. and usual steam boat.

down side: limited prawns per person about 4-5/person

maybe put it on 27th night? any objections? any one got other suggestions? i was thinkning we go like hort park before that .. and go for like buffet at holland V?

yeah? its 21.50 after gst if i'm correct. i think the officers can treat us the gst :P


27th all ok?

so far those who told me can go: occ, lz,txy, gerard. kel.

wing reply me leh. and um esc you not free even on weekends ar? jameson only free on 21st ar..



anyway came across this joke when i was mugging..

what do you call an ant which ate growth hormone?


.
.
.
.
.



ANS: Tolerant ( Taller - Ant )


yeah please somehow tell me whether you can make it. esp wing and jamie

Please read

The post below is a very very long post. But especially to GERARD, ellen, gen, yiting, tricia, chin ee and kelvin, please do take the time to read it. dun just skim through it. please.
and to shun cheng, read it as well. haha.

thanks!

Liverpool end Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten home record

Wow the above is like one great bday present man. Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool. No need for 80-90 min goals some more. Ok i shan't elaborate on details for the sake of a good friend by the name of genevieve. Who happens to support chelsea. In fact if the same thing had happened to liverpool, i would be pretty sad too.

And so, i checked the epl fixture list. Don't worry, the return liverpool vs chelsea fixture at anfield doesn't fall on dec 12 =) or dec 11 or dec 13 for that matter.

Anyway, thanks for an even greater bday present from the usual ppl! being gen, ellen, yiting, tricia, gerard, chin ee and kelvin. yups! and a few short messages for u ppl in reply for ur long messages!
To chin ee: eh hurry up graduate then i go take mc from u!
To yiting: uni shld get better soon lah! or at least hopefully! I'm sure someone of your calibre will pull through fine!
To ellen: hey kiappy girl! yup of course i miss rj days! esp now that they going to change rjc name. i dun even know what to comment abt that. anyway, stay happy too! and study hard!
To gerard: shall i type random things to fill this space up too? haha. well anyway now u're completely on track wif regards to my status wif wl le. haha
To kelvin: hello u envy my slack life??? look in the mirror and envy that person instead. I think he's having a hell of a great time. and hey we can still dota again some day! even though i no longer hav wc3 in my comp le.
To gen: 1 yr more to ord! and then another 10 months to start of uni? nah i've a few things to work on alrdy before i ord, which i hav a feeling i wun be able to complete them. be safe and healthy and happy too! don't ever be a stranger =)
To tricia: hey u nvr write! but i understand! poor you got so much work to do u had to come late to timbre! anyway work hard!

in addition,
To shun cheng: hey take care in thailand k! Crescendo is a tough place. But you're an even tougher guy! just dun navigate wrongly and ambush own forces!

Anyway, with regards to the wu lei thing, i'm all right k. Been prepared for this way back when i enlisted le. yup. just didn't expect it to take this long. lol. Her decision is her decision lah. just respect it lor. And before gerard starts another 'hey now that you're free from the shackles of wu lei u can go for ellen" gossip, let's make it clear that I HAVE NO INTEREST IN ELLEN WATSOEVER. not yet at least. still dun believe? let's put this into perspective.

starting with my bday wish. Unless you guys tried really hard to lip-read me when i was making my wish i doubt any of u will know wat my wish is. Here it is. I hope to be able to accomplish many things in my remaining 1 year in NS. 1. Help my little cousin improve his study grades. which is why i'm giving him free tuition every saturday. 2. learn driving. 3. learn both the guitar and piano to a proficient level. 4. climb 1 mountain. 5.take at least 2 non-saf related courses. 6. complete 5 characters in diablo II before diablo III comes out. 7. Save at least $15000.

All this to do with 2 free days each week, barring the 14 days of leave and random burning of weekends. I don't even think it's possible to complete le, like i told gen above. add in a "8. get a girlfriend" to the equation and you might want to explain to me how all this can work out. A girl, ellen or wu lei or any girl for that matter will mean time, compromising point 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, as well as money, compromising point 7. Getting a girl will either mean a complete destruction of those objectives, or being very very very unfair to the girl by hardly spending any time with her.

Believe me now, gerard? and anyone else who think so too(lz, kel?)?

Anyway, i hope the above doesn't sound too harsh(to gerard) You know, i can take a photo with yiting, with tricia, with gen with complete ease, but sometimes i dun even dare to take a photo with ellen. So gerard, please? If u believe what i said above, tone down on the teasing. you dun hav to remove it completely if u feel uncomfortable but at the very least, tone down. really. yup.

Anyway, the above is just an explanation of what i'd like to do. and hopefully come next yr i can complete 90% of those things. Only then will it look like a better time to get a girlfriend =)

anyway, once again thanks for a great bday!


p.s i actually can't believe i'm paying $170 per month of insurance premiums. If someone murders me now, my parents will be rich.

lalala

hey guys, let's post smthing!

like if we get 1 post per person will hav qte abit of posts le. even if it's random crap like the type me and lu zhou post.

anyway, had 2 family days recently. one organised by my father's company at sentosa. not as good as previous yr's organisation, but this yr we actually won qte abit of prizes. beach soccer 3rd and lucky draw 6th =). though i think my father is giving the lucky draw prize(Sony Wi-Fi) to his colleague who gave me the free tickets in the first place(the winning ticket was originally the colleague's) =(.

the other one was organised by my unit, 2pdf, in celebration of their anniversary. My friends weren't exactly enthusiastic abt it, seeing that it was an army thingy, so we ended up laming arnd and practically wasted half our day away. Which i tot was damn ultra dumb, cuz since u're alrdy going to lose half the day, y not spend it meaningfully? furthermore the thingy was held at HortPark, this gardening hub thingy(never heard of it right? i didn't before this either), so i kinda wanted to explore it. nvm i'll explore it again some other time. wanna go ther class outing or smthing? though i foresee non-nature/outdoor lovers getting extremely bored. I'm like from odac so i'll be excited u see.

and my current ipsc(installation protection and security course) is a stay-out course so i'm at home every night! for this week only. transport fares hurt though...

there's a meteor shower peaking tmr! at arnd midnight i think, can't rmb, been a long time since i lasted touched any astronomy stuff. shun cheng correct me if u know any better. anyway, this one is the orionids, which has a very small peak number, not really worth watching to beginners. only good thing is that its position in the sky is easy to find. comes frm Orion constellation(hence orionids)! I'm sure u all know how to recognise orion.

haha ok see random shit can type so long post le. eh all go spend like 5-10 mins type smthing leh. yups.

lalala

_

Since posts are wanted, I'll just post a bit abt recent events in my life.

This week was a number of firsts for me. First of all, I reported sick for the first time. Partly bcos we had SOC training. My knee had been swelling over the past day, apparently accumulated pus was causing hurt to my joint whenever i bent the knee or exerted pressure on it.

Then the doctor said that the faster way to recover was to make an incision to drain out the pus. So I had my first taste of anesthetic that day too. After that, he informed me to go to the medical centre to change dressing every subsequent day. So that means that I'll have to go 'report sick' everyday. Keng ah.

And tuesday was the first time we booked out in the evening before the sun set. lol

intentionally left blank

hmm okies.. haha just to "revive" this blog lol.


k haha so anyways, its dead cos nooo one posts! duh. haha umm in case you people are wondering, i'm busy preparing for my CAs on 24th oct.. so ya from now till then i'll be quite busy.

k you all have any suggestions on where we should go?

supposed to have ice skating some day.. but sorries.. i'm bogged up with hall stuff..

anyway, if we have ice skating.. you all mind? or you all wan lan again ar. or like steamboat. haha.. my ideas quite limited.. actually you army people can like ask around your camp people of interesting places to go.. heh heh..


hmm if not we have to wait for the ocs people to commission then we ask them for a treat! (: wohooooo!



well blog something. anything.. or i'll start blogging about the 20 muscles in the forearm ,the 31 spinal cords, the 200 over bones of our body.. 4 types of primary tissue. skin being the largest organ of the body.. basilic and cephalic vein, arteries, bones, fascia, dermis, epidermis, etc...

'I find your lack of faith disturbing.'

- Darth Vader, StarWars Ep IV

that, is the coolest phrase in all of starwars

army life in camp is boooring despite tv in the company office and internet in the company rest room(w/o war3 and youtube!!!) i've watched everything in my ipod touch twice, everything meaning [hancock] [speedracer] [avp1&2] [starwars ep1-6] [harold&kumar go to whitecastle/escape from guantanamo bay] [goal1&2] [american pie 1-5] yongsheng, before you start b!tching, don't ask why i revellie otot and laypak whole day except for lunch and dinner and nights out, say any more and i'll be charged

my 3wk trip to taiwan for training was interesting in either sense, i'll post some pictures and talk more about it some time later, i think

ellen: i've got a pic you can use for your food blog, w0ah i actually read it? ya you can call it airline food

meanwhile, surfing wikipedia and amazon.com, i found this: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Beedle-Bard-Standard/dp/B001DB0HG2/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219839501&sr=8-2, i thought there's only 7 or so handwritten ones sold at charity auctions, it would make a great present

on a side note, i'm going to eat steamboat with the prcs this weekend, saturday evening i hope? anyone free is welcomed to join us