Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Nuts about lasers

Growing up, there were many elements that influenced the process, which aren't much different from any growing boy: dinosaurs, fire, lasers, nuts and meat, just to name a few. But today I've rediscovered, and relived 2 of those elements: Nuts, and lasers.

I'm lucky I don't have nut allergies because I like nuts. I used to scoop up heaps of peanut butter from the jar and eat them for snacks. I still don't know why but it was one of those things my mom allowed me to do at home. Probably thats why I was one of the few kids with a 36 inch waist. Lucky, lucky me.

Then there were groundnuts. Oh I can still imagine packets of Ngan Yins with the thumbs up logo, cheering you on, 'Eat! Its good for you!' during Chinese New Year, especially, which almost always carried forward to the next couple of weeks because we were always in the habit of overstocking so we'd always amass an arsenal of that stuff to last us in case of war. There were cashews, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and the green wasabi nuts too, in case you got bored of groundnuts.

And then, there was the lasers. No, we didn't stock up on lasers but I was just intrigued by lasers. Probably it was watching too many Star Trek episodes, or one of the many Bond films that led me to believe that acquiring a laser would be the answer to mass destruction, particularly satellites in space or relatives that you aren't particularly fond of. So like the little terrorist I was, I'd read up on lasers, what they're about and how they work. Which also explain how I've amassed a collection of 'How Things Work' books around the house. Wonder where they are now, though. But I do remember having my own little brown book of drawings. I think I called it 'Inventions' or something like that where I kind of figured out how something would work? Yes those were much simpler times. I remember thinking whats the big deal about bombs, so I drew one where I filled one of those plastic containers for film with gunpowder with a match stuck through the plastic cover. Of course it didn't occur to me that a)if I lit it and threw it, that would extinguish the match, and b)where would I purchase a keg of gunpoweder with my 5 Ringgit a week allowance.

But at any economic rate I figured that it'd be a lot easier than trying to manufacture my own lasers (because I saw the diagrams and they were too complicated). Come to think of it now, I did seem a lot like a little Doctor Evil.

The last few days I've been eating loads of peanut butter. I like the taste, I think, or maybe because its convenient. I rather eat a peanut butter sandwich anytime than friend meehoon for breakfast. Somehow I don't think about the 7.3g/serving of fat in relation to the meehoon dripping with oil. I'll take my chances there. Its funny how they don't really sell peanut butter sandwiches outside. They have all other fancy sandwiches these days you know, that even the run of the mill stalls have egg mayo or tuna sandwiches. I won't trust the authenticity of these sandwiches, the egg could've been a breeding ground for various strains of bacteria since its creation and the tuna...well, I don't want to know. If, however they stuck with peanut butter, I know that there is no possible way you can screw that up.

Then there's the lasers. I found out that I've reignited my love for lasers again. Not as a mass-destruction device of some sort, they are pretty strict on importing that kinda stuff in these days, but a laser engraving machine that can allow me to engrave anything on timber. I think it'd be quite interesting to be able to do that as a branding tool for my products. But then I might end up being the kid with the rubberstamp, wanting to stamp everything that I come in contact with. I guess we don't really grow up now, do we?