Lime Leaf caterpillar

I have posted another post about insects again. But I am not crazy about insects. It is just that I could not think of any other thing to post, so I decided to share something else.

We have heard of pets such as cats, dogs, tortoises, birds, fishes, or hamsters. But as for us, we once had a most unusual pet, which is caterpillars.

The reason why we started having caterpillars is because when I am still very young. When my brother and I went out to play, we like to go to the apartment which is opposite our apartment. At that apartment, at the first floor, there lives a family who plants a very big lime tree outside their house.

On that tree, there are a lot of caterpillars, so everytime, we will catch all the caterpillars on that tree and bring it home. At first, of course, our parents are very angry. At first they want us to throw all away, but my parents thought that when we throw all away, they are all going to die, because there are no food for them. If we were to put back onto the lime tree of that family, they will definitely get very mad. The reason is because caterpillars are not good as they will eat up all the leaves, and spoil the plant.

So the only way is to keep those caterpillars ourselves. So we put all of them into a container, and everyday, we secretly pluck some lime leaves from that family.

That is how we had started taking caterpillars as pets. When they started with egg, it only takes a few days(around 2 to 3 days) to hatch. When the caterpillar is just born, it is very small. It is not even 1cm. Its colour at that time is black and white. It grows very fast. It is so fast that everyday we are able to see it grow everyday. Everyday it gets longer and longer. As it grows bigger, its colour started to lose its colour(It is like the colour becomes lighter). When it grows to a certain length, it started to shed its skin. After it shed its skin, it changes colour. It changes from black and white to green. After it turns into green, it continues to grow again.

After about a week, when it already grows to its maximum length, it started to make its pupa. The way it turns into pupa is amazing. At first, it will find a suitable spot on the wall. Then it started to curve its body, and then it will hang over there, and will not move anymore. The next day, it completely turns into a pupa. The shape of the pupa is like a sharp pointed head pointing opposite direction facing the opposite side of the wall.

After 10 days, the pupa breaks, and a beautiful butterfly came out of it. At first, when the butterfly first come out, it cannot fly. Its wings seems to be crumpled altogether. It needs to wait for a while, until the wings had fully open, then it is able to fly. After it becomes butterfly, we do not keep it anymore. The reason is because butterfly no longer eat leaf anymore. So after it turns into butterfly, we will release it, and see it fly off up high into the sky.

Actually we do plant a lime tree at our house, but it is not as big as that family's lime tree. Ours is very small. Sometimes when we release the butterfly, it will still return back a few days later, and it will lay its eggs on our small lime tree. When it lay its eggs, it is not a lot at a time, but just a few eggs. In one single leaf we are able to see one egg, so it is very hard to find their eggs as all eggs is being laid on separate leaves. We need to find leaf by leaf in order to find the eggs.

When we grown older, we do not go to that family to catch caterpillars anymore. But the butterflies which we releases will still return to lay its eggs, so we are able to continue to keep the caterpillars for quite still quite some time. We still continued to pluck lime leaf from that family, and sometimes, we will go to buy some lime leaves from the market. We do not want those caterpillars to destroy our lime tree either.

There is one time when we buy the lime leaves from the market. After the caterpillars eat them, all of them turn out to be dead. This shows that the lime leaves from the market has some chemicals in it. From this, it also gives us a lesson that some market products are not good as well.

After that incdent, we decided not to buy lime leaves from market anymore, but just to pluck lime leaves from that house, and also to sacrifice our lime trees to provide them with food.

Very soon, our lime tree has all been eaten up by the caterpillars, and there are no leaves left. So we have to go to that family to pluck the lime leaves to supply the rest of the caterpillars that has not turn into pupa yet.

After the last butterfly flew away, it does not come back anymore. The reason is because we do not have any lime leaves to supply it anymore. That is how the caterpillar pet had ended.

Few years later, the leaves of our lime tree had grown back. But those butterflies never return back to lay their eggs anymore. From that time onwards, we do not see any of those caterpillars anymore, and I really misses them.

Queen of the red ant

I had once seen the queen of the red ant in our flower pot that my father had planted at the corridor.

The colour of the red ant queen is not red colour, but it is in yellow and black colour. Its size is 2 times more bigger than ordinary red ant that we see. It also have wings, but it did not fly at all. It does not look like any red ant, but looks more like a bee.

The first time we see it, it did not move at all. We are able to see its head, as it is hiding in a hole. When we see it, we use a stick to disturb it. But it does not move at all, no matter what ways we use to disturb it. So we thought that it is already dead. So we do not bother about it.

Time has passes really really long after that. So long that we had already totally forget about the queen red ant(I think there is at least few years passed).

Until one fine day, when my brother is watering the plants, he sees that queen ant again. The queen ant is still in the same position, and it is no moving. So my brother decided to take out the dead corpse to examine what is it.

In surprise, the queen red ant actually move. The queen ant had revived after being "dead" for a few years.

From that time onwards, it is no longer inactive anymore. It is active all the time. It keeps moving about. We had no idea what it is trying to do, as it seems that the queen is busy on something.

We observed very closely to it everyday. A few days later, we see some eggs being laid inside the hole. We are very curious about the eggs, and we are wondering what kind of creatures might come out of the egg, as we have not seen such a creature before.

For the few days, it keeps protecting its egg. We tried to disturb the queen, but it is very fierce. When we use a stick to poke it, it keeps bitting on the stick and refuses to let go. My brother keep struggling the stick slowly for a long time, then it let go. Of course, at this time, we are still unable to tell what kind of creature this is.

Few days later, the eggs finally hatched. A group of around 10 red ants came out. Those red ants keep staying near the queen ant, and they do not move away from the queen to search for food or whatever. When we uses the stick to disturb them, those red ants will try to attack the stick, trying to protect their own territory.

They do not go around to hunt for food, so we "pity" them and we throw some food bits into the hole. The food drops into the bottom of the hole, but they did not went down to collect those food. Poor ants.

A few days later, there is a very very heavy rain. It nearly flood the whole of our corridor. After the rain stop, we decided to go outside and see the progress of the red ants. In shock, those red ants, including the red ant queen, are dead(This time the dead is real). The heavy rain has "flood" the entire hole, and the queen is being totally sinked into the hole filled with water.

We are very sad at that time, as we are unable to see how the queen ant progress, and we also cannot see the whole formation of the ant's empire. After staying in our flower pot for few years, it just left like that. We feel very sad. We hope that there will still be another queen that can come to our flower pot, perhaps next time we can put the flower pot under an umbrella, so that their home would not be flood.

Blog Styles

Today is Saturday, 14 February, 2009. Today is Valentines Day. For any other people, maybe it is a day for them to go crazy. Valentines Day is still meaningless and boring for me. Currently, none of my friends are online right now. Probably they go off to celebrate their Valentines Day.

I have nothing to post on my blogs recently, because my life is very boring, and everyday it is just the same thing happening. I also get more and more bored writing blogs, because there are no new visitors visiting at all. All that comes to visit my blogs are all same old visitors. Unlike all my other friends, their popularity is so widely known that everyday they receives so many comments in their chatboxes. But for mine, it is still very clean.

I might not make posts everyday. So please forgive me.

Let me introduce some of my blogger friends who are really famous.

I shall start off with the best blog in asia 2008 first. http://erichalfredbubihartmann.blogspot.com/
This person is in the top 10 lists of best asia blog in 2008(Probably being advertised by the Great Ancient Ruler of singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew). I like this blog very much. The reason why this is a very good blog is because all his blog contents are "copyright" free. That is the reason why he does not break any copyright rules. His blog contents are also very short, simple, and sweet. Unlike some blogs that writes in essay form. Including mine T.T) His blogs are mostly pictures. A picture tells a thousand words. All his pictures are created all by himself too. His blog is more like a blog of art. He is a very good artist in real life. When comes to designing, nobody can win him.



Next blog is Raven.
http://birdking5.blogspot.com/
I also like this blog very much. I am always jealous about people who understands very good chinese. She write her blog all in chinese. Also, her writing styles are all like poems. I am very jealous, because chinese to me is already very hard, but she can even write poems for every posts. Although I do write english poems, but until now, I only managed to write 6 english poems. Yet she is able to write poems in every posts. Her chinese must be very very good.


Next blog is HYY.
http://hooyikyangmemorial.blogspot.com/
His blog is also very good. He posts his posts in a simple and informal way, and it is also short and sweet. Also, he has a very very good computer skills. He also has a very very handsome photo on his profile. So that is why a lot of girls come to his blog. Today is Valentines Day, so I guess his chatbox is going to flood. Also, his life is very fascinating, and everyday he will definitely post something to show up on his blog. Unlike us, we do not make posts everyday.


I still have a very long time to catch up to them. I want to be better than them and become the Top 1 best blog in asia(but I have to overcome these 3 "obstacles" first T.T). I do not even have 1,000 visitors until now. But profiles views I have 16,000+ . I wonder why people rather view my profiles than to view my blog? T.T

The chanting

After my previous post mentioned about the 2 incidents, last night there is another incident happening(unlucky T.T).

Last night, at around 1am, I am lying on my bed and I am about to fall asleep. After a while, I heard sounds of somone chanting. At first I do not bother about the chanting sound, and tries to sleep. But the chanting sound keeps repeating itself. Then I feel a little irritating.

At first I thought it is my brother listening to some kind of weird music(he always like to listen to weird music), so I went over to his room to see.

By the time I get out of my bed, the chanting sound is no longer heard. But I still went over to his room to check it out.

He was also not asleep yet at that time. When I went into his room, he is listening to his very small mp3. I told him that I heard chanting in my room. He said that the sound is not being made by him. He then laughed and said that I am as irritating as the chanting sound, then he went back onto his bed.

After confirming that the sound is not made by my brother, I went back to my bed. The moment I lied on my bed, the chanting sound was heard again. Then I get out of my bed once again, and the chanting sound is gone again. Then I realised that the chanting sound comes from within my bed.

I searched around my bed to see if there is any "chanting source". But I did not find anything at all. Then I assumed that it must be my neighbours going crazy about religion stuffs, so I ignored it and continues lying on my bed, trying hard to fall asleep.

Later that night, I had a very strange dream. I dreamed that I am sitting on an open field, surrounded by a group of people. Those people forms a small circle around me. There are around 10 people. Those people dresses in all white. They wear a white robe, white shoes, white gloves, white hat, and white mask(whole body covered with white). It was night time. The same chanting sound was heard. Then suddenly, the moon turns into red colour. Then from very very far away, I see a very very big lava giant man crawling out of a volcano very far away. He looks like a ordinary human, just that he is very huge, and his whole body is being covered with lava.

He is walking towards me. He is walking very slow. But because he is very huge, so it looks as if he is walking very fast. I am very scared at that time as he is walking nearer and nearer. After a while, he is already standing in front of me looking at me. After that, I woke up. It is already morning. The chanting sound is no longer heard. Then I started to have a feeling that the chanting is made by some evil religion followers.

But I tried not to think too much, because the chanting and the dream could be 2 different things. Maybe it is because the chanting keeps going on, and the sound of the chanting is already in my mind, as the chanting keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. That is the reason why the chanting sounds are still heard in my dream, because it is already in my mind.

Talking about this chanting, I suddenly recalled another incident. This incident happens when I am only 10 years old(I am very sure that I am 10 years old at that time because I remember telling it to my classmates of that year in school).

One morning, asusual on weekdays school life, my father woke me up very early in the morning as I always cannot wake up by myself as I am too tired. When my father wake me up, I suddenly hear a sound of a flute. I remembered at that time, the sky is pure blue. The flute is blowing a same song again and again. The song only have 5 sounds, and until now, I can still remember how the song sounds like. The flute song keeps repeating and repeating.

At that time, I am very curious, so I asked my father what is the sound. My father replied me, "It is the sound of the water ghost." I am more curious at that time, and I decided to ask further questions to clarify my thoughts. But my father did not reply me much anymore, but he just said, "Just get ready for school and don't ask so much."

But these incidents does not bother me really much, and I do not think that much either. I am a person who stands more on the reality side, and chooses to ignore any other paranormal stuffs. Whether all these things are true or false, perhaps the truth might come out one day.

Sounds of my neighbours?

I am going to share with you 2 of my incidents. This 2 incidents that I am going to talk about happens a few years ago.

Incident 1

The first incident happens on one night. That time is after midnight. I am inside the toilet. As I am inside the toilet, I suddenly heard a lady's voice. The voice said some words in chinese(although my chinese is not very good, but I can understand this). The voice also sounds very loud and creepy. The voice said, "阴阳界, 哈哈哈。。。". I feel very scared at that time, and I do not even dare to move after that.

After that day, I tried to ask my friends what that word really means(I need to clarify so I asked my friends. As I said my chinese is not very good). My friend went back to ask his father, who always research on paranormal stuffs(just for leisure, not for his jobs).

My friend give me a call that night, and he said that the word suppose to mean, "World of life and death." My friend also said that that "ghost" is trying to let us know that the world of life and the world of death is connected.

But I am not really scared after this incident. The reason is because I am living in an apartment, and there are many neighbours around me. It could be a possibility that my neighbours are the one making those noises, because I know of a few families who do not sleep in midnight.

Incident 2

Another incident is that every midnight, when clock strucks 12am, there will be a srange sound. The sound sounds like some rusty metal sound. It sounds like someone riding a bicycle. The sound is quite loud, and the sound will always be heard only when the clock is 12am sharp. Almost every midnight I have heard it. There is one time I am very curious about the sound, and I waited at the window and stare at the road.

The clock finally struck 12am. The sound was heard again. I stare at the road, and keep looking left and right, but I see nothing at all. There is only one road around the place we live(There is a big road, but we need to walk a distance). I am very sure that the sound comes from the road, but I see nothing at all. The sound comes nearer and nearer, but yet, still nothing can be seen. From the time the sound starts till the time the sound fades away, I see nothing at all. I feel very shock, because I am very sure that the sound comes from the road, but why is there nothing?

The sound still continues until a certain time, the sound is no longer heard anymore.

Some of my friends told me that those are ghosts. But I do not believe in ghosts at all. I believe that those noises that I have heard must be from my neighbours,and I am just too imaginative at that time because I am still very young at that age.

Lost of memories - A good thing or a bad thing?

My uncle got robbed on new years' day in singapore during midnight. Until now, he is still lying on the hospital bed in singapore. A few of my relatives managed to went over to the hospital to visit him. They had asked him about the what happen about him. They asks him how did he get into the hospital.

Surprisingly, he answered, "2 planes crashed onto each other."

After they returned back they share this piece of information to all of us. Some of us thinks that it is a good thing, as it is good to forget about unpleasant past, but yet some of us thinks that it is not a good thing, as those robbers should be caught and severely punished, if not they might do it again, and more people would get hurt.

In the beginning of the first few weeks, he did remember about the robbers robbing him. But now, he do not even remember it, instead he said he is being sent to hospital because 2 planes crashed onto each other while it is flying(I bet situation would be more critical if it is really plane crash).

Some of us suspected that he is lying to us, as he do not want all of us to worry about him. The reason is because he did remember about the incident in the beginning few weeks, but after that, he began to said that he is being sent to hospital by plane crash. Moreover, he still remembered every single one of us(for all those who visited him, including relatives and friends), this shows that his memory should not be a problem.

Whether it is really losing memory or just an act, we decided not to ask him further question, and all we wish for is just that he could faster recover and go back home, and after he had recovered, we will then continue to ask him and see if he could still remember part of the incident.

Whether he really lose his memory or not, both have its advantages. If he remembered the incident, there is hope for the robbers to be caught, as there is also an eye-witness who is willing to help us. If he already forget about the incident, it is also a good thing as he could forget about all the unpleasant past. The most important thing right now is to hope that he could recover soon, and to leave his hospital bed.

Inconsiderate people corrupted by greed

Yesterday morning, there is a lady who lives on the opposite block from us. She came at about 10am, and she came to borrow some money from us, and she said that she had an emergency and need to use the money. She also promise us that she will return us the money very soon.

She said that she went out and she left her keys inside the house. She need the money because she said she is going to call someone to break open the door, so that she is able to get into the house.

We see her as a person who could be trusted, as we did see each other sometimes, as we only live nearby, but we are not very close. We are just trying to be a good person, so we borrowed her the money.

After borrowing the money, my father recalls about her, and feel that things are not very right. When she call the person to knock open the door, and she could get into the house to get the money. She could also call her relatives around her and asks for help. Why would she want to borrow money from us? Moreover, we are not very close to each other.

Our predictions were right. After that day, she really did not return back to us anymore. We felt very angry after that incident. She break her own promise. She also break our trust. From now on, I bet that she will be living with guilt for life.

There is another incident, which happens in my school. I remember there is one time, I found my classmate's lost wallet. I wanted to return it to her, but I need to rush to meet a teacher. So I have no other choice but to pass to another classmate to ask him to pass to that classmate. Later that day, my classmate who lost the wallet said that her wallet has lost. At that time, I am very shocked. So I went to ask the person who I pass the wallet to, and ask him whether he had already returned the wallet.

In my surprise, he actually said that I did not pass him any wallet at all. I am very angry after that incident. I went to tell the teacher, but that person keep denying it. I keep insisted that I have passed the wallet to him, and that guy keep insisted that I did not give him any wallet. In the end, both of us became the "suspect".

I really hate all the inconsiderate people who cheated other people's things and other people's feelings. At the same time, they will also lost trust from others, and will be living with guilt in their entire life. I really hope that these people can be more considerate, so that we can trust each other.