Interviews

Interviews are my worst nightmare (other than having the lady from Ring crawl out of my TV, Chuckie to be under my bed, Freddy Krueger to live in my dreams, and Bloody Mary to live in my mirror and scary midget demonic clowns hopping /running around with minituare daggers all happening at the same time. Right Syuh?).





And I dread interviews so much. Why? It is actually not the fear of being rejected during the interview, but rather, not being prepared to give a speech about myself. I am fine with the fact that they ask questions that require me to state my point of view.

However, the killer question during the interview would have to be "Tell me about yourself". Trust me, if you were my interviewer, you'd pretty much want to smack me on the head. Because I always emphasize on the 'wrong' things.

Like in a recent interview that I went to, I was asked to tell them more about myself. And as always, I startd off with my interest. Soon enough, I landed myself in the "I appreciate Arts, but it wouldn't seem like the 'usual' Arts to some, because I enjoy tattoos and body piercings". And then, totally in my own zone, I'll relate incidents (sometimes even chuckling to myself) or events where I got to see beautiful art pieces (the tattoos and body piercings) up close and personal. And I even talked about wanting to head to Thailand to check out the Vegetarian festival because of the body piercings they do there.

The awkwardness would only come when I look up at them, to only see a horrified/bewildered face staring back at me.



And if that isn't bad enough, I have the habit of saying "Errhhh...", "Urm...." and even "And so on", so much that even I find it irritating.

Interviewer: So tell me something about yourself.

Me:I enjoy sports because I think that it is one of the few ways to unleash my potential without having to be judged based on my looks and speech. It also takes my mind of off things and so on.

If I were the interviewer, i'd simply shoot back with a "What the heck is so on?".

Thankfully, all the interviews that I have been to, have nice interviewers.
Why oh why must they have interviews for so many events? It's not as if we're attending some beauty pageant or anything like that. True, we'll be asked questions that require to be answered on the spot, but never something that suggests telling them more about myself.


But then again, it's funny as I relate the entire scenario back at home. I guess I'm so used to the fact that my family accepts Art and are really open-minded, that I relate my opinions just like how I do it at home. And it beats giving beauty pageant answers.





I think most of my classmates know about that part already, if they've been reading my answers on the various articles posted on MEL. And of course, my friends who may know too much about me and my point of view. Hahah!

And other than finding difficulty in giving almost perfect answers to the random questions, I still have no idea why people find it hard to accept those with piercings/tattoos/weird sense of dressing (Weird/unique, you decide).

No matter how much we try to not judge a book by its cover, we always end up doing it.

And sometimes, I hate myself for doing so because when placing myself in that person's shoes, I'd never want anyone to judge me/think of me/ treat me like how I do to some.

Ridiculous.

And now you know, as to why I hate going to interviews. And it's because of interviews that always make me miss fruitful experiences and adventures.

I do hope that I can conquer this fear, or at least find a better answer to the questions soon. Or else, I'm screwed for future careers.


Till then.



Loves.

Family Day Out

Just a quick update before I head out to my Aunt's place.


Week 2 of school has been pretty much like a roller coaster ride. One moment you're having the time of your life, making friends and enjoying class. And the next thing you know, you're in for a thrill, stressing out with the load of projects, making enemies with team mates who are uncooperative, and trying to make ends meet for every single thing.

But on the bright side, my class is pretty awesome. There are really great lecturers that are so lenient that they willingly extend the datelines for us, and also help us out in the projects and class work. Then there are the awesome hyper classmates that make fun of every single thing, even of going to the extend of making a full out of themselves.


Enough about that...


I have a post that is saved in 'Drafts', where it is about my interpretation on the word 'Home'. I've been working on it for a long time (well, not really. More like between classes) because I couldn't find any "ooomph" to end it off nicely. But I'll definitely try to complete it over the weekends, so that there is at least a proper update from me! Hahah.


Speaking of 'Home', I love the bus rides to and from school. Mainly because it can make or break your day. What do I mean? Well, having to be stuck in a jam while on the way to school, being squeezed in the train with tonnes of people that would rather cram into the cabins than to let others out, and then having to miss the bus by a couple of seconds, would break your day, wouldn't it?






I would admit that all these mentioned above have indeed happened to me in the last two weeks. But I've actually gotten so used to it, that I can help but chuckle to myself as I push my way through the maze of humans in the crammed train cabin, run madly for the bus and then give up halfway because it left without me, and definitely when I happen to step/trip on someone's foot while in a hurry to do something.

I'm not clumsy, you see, I'm just oblivious.


But what I want to highlight in this post is not about the tragedy or battle to school, but rather, the humour of it.


What am I talking about?

Well, let's just say I saw a really tall man trying to get into his Mr. Bean car, and then pulling his seat all the way to the back so that there is room for his legs.






And then I saw a car that had this signed put up "Please tailgate me. I need the money." I wonder what the other car drivers are thinking when they were behind this car while being on the road.

And lastly, I saw a woman eating a bowl of noodles in the car. Literally with a ceramic bowl, chopsticks and a bowl of noodle with soup!





Talk about desperate measures to eat!



Well, that's it for now. I'm having a BBQ with my maternal family. Can you imagine having a BBQ from 3pm till night? It's going to be a looooong and crazy night.



Till then!



Loves.

Machines of Malice Part Two

Okay, and now the main topic of the post; Machines of Malice.


Just yesterday, I caught the show "Power Zone: Machines Of Malice" and was I sure captivated by how sadistic the people were back in Medieval Times just to extract information or to punish people. The machines that they used were remarkably well designed to give the perfect execution in terms of having the culprit suffer a slow and painful death.


If you're just as curious as me, today is your lucky day. Because I have done some research and shall reveal to you some(you can search up the net if you want more information on other devices used back then) of the common torture devices used in Medieval Times.


They are The Machines Of Malice.

*Viewers discretion is advised.


In alphabetical order, cause' I'm cool like that.


1. The Breast Ripper




"Used as a way to punish women, the breast ripper was a painful and cruel way to mutilate a woman's breasts.

This instrument was mostly reserved for women accused of conducting a miscarriage or those accused of adultery.

The claws were used either hot or cold on the victim's exposed breasts. If the victim wasn't killed she would be scarred for life as her breasts were literally torn apart.

A common variant of the breast ripper is often referred to as "The Spider" which is a similar instrument attached to a wall. The victim's breasts were fixed to the claws and the woman was pulled by the torturer away from the wall; successfully removing them." (Refer to number 15).



2. The Chair Of Torture






"Also known as the Judas Chair, the Chair of Torture was a terrible device of the Middle Ages. It was used until the late 1800's in Europe.

There are many variants of the chair. They all have one thing in common: spikes cover the back, arm-rests, seat, leg-rests and foot-rests. The number of spikes in one of these chairs ranges from 500 to 1,500.

To avoid movement, the victim's wrists were tied to the chair or, in one version, two bars pushed the arms against arm-rests for the spikes to penetrate the flesh even further. In some versions, there were holes under the chair's bottom where the torturer placed coal to cause severe burns while the victim still remained conscious.

This instrument's strength lies primarily in the psychological fear caused on the victims. It was a common practice to extract a confession by forcing the victim to watch someone else be tortured with this instrument.

The time of death greatly varied ranging from a few hours to a day or more. No spike penetrated any vital organ and the wound was closed by the spike itself which delayed blood loss greatly. "




3. The Coffin Torture

"The Coffin Torture was feared throughout the Middle Ages. It is enough for one to look at the picture to the left to realize the reason.The victim was placed inside the "coffin". Torturers were well-known for forcing overweight victims into the device, or even making the "coffin" slightly larger than normal to make the victims more uncomfortable.The period of time a victim was to be kept inside the coffin was determined by his or her crime. Very serious crimes, such as blasphemy, were punished by death inside the coffin where the victim was to be kept inside under the sun with animals eating his or her flesh.

The coffin was sometimes placed in a public plaza so the local population would congregate around it and mock the unlucky victim. Sometimes death occurred because of the hatred towards the person as others often threw rocks and other objects to further increase the pain."



4. The Crocodile Tube

"The crocodile tube wasn't common, but it was used to kill many infidels and thieves.

The victim was fixed inside a tube just big enough for the victim's entrance. The tube, having crocodile teeth-like spikes, was slowly compressed leaving the victim totally immobilized. The torturer could only see his face and feet.

With the help of carbon and fire underneath the tube, the torturer gradually heated the tube until he extracted a confession or killed the victim. The former was most common, as this is one of the cruelest and most painful tortures ever used on human beings.

With the face and feet exposed, the torturer was able to inflict painful wounds on the victim. Facial mutilation and toe ripping were preferred choices."

5. The Ducking Stool





"Dunking is a form of punishment that was mainly reserved for supposed witches. The victim was tied to a chair which was elevated or lowered by the torturer. If he noticed that the victim was going to pass out, he elevated the chair. When he needed information and the victim was unwilling to cooperate, he lowered it. This method was widely used during the Spanish Inquisition and in England and France. The victim was usually intermittently submerged for many hours until he or she revealed information or death occurred.

While witches were commonly tortured using this method, thieves and murderers could be subject to it in order to extract a confession. This was more common when other more sophisticated torture devices were not present."




6. Flaying



"Flaying is a very old torture method that was used thousands of years ago in the Middle East, Africa and even America. During the Middle Ages, it was frequently used to torture and execute criminals, captured soldiers and witches.

In one version of the Flaying Torture, the victim's arms were tied to a pole above his head while his feet were tied below. His body was now completely exposed and the torturer, with the help of a small knife, peeled off the victim's skin slowly. In most cases, the torturer peeled off his facial skin first, slowly working his way down to the victim's feet. Most victims died before the torturer even reached their waist.

In another version, the victim was exposed to the Sun until his skin reddened. This was followed by the torturer peeling off his flesh with the same method described above.

In yet another version, the victim was submerged into boiling water and was taken out after a few minutes. He was slowly flayed.

Some cultures believed that human skin contained magical properties. Others used human parts, such as scalps, to show social status. "



7. The Garrote







"Very common in all the world, the Garrotte received its Spanish name due to its popularity in the area. The Spanish also perfected this instrument to cause a painful and decisive death.

The victim was tied to the instrument and his or her neck forced inside the iron collar. With the handle that can be seen in the picture, the executioner slowly crushed the victim's neck causing death from asphyxia.

The garrote was widely used during the Spanish Inquisition in order to kill heretics who confessed to their crime. If he didn't confess, he was burned at the stake alive instead. The reason is that being killed by the garrote takes a few minutes at most, while being burned alive takes much longer.

This device was used in Spain until 1975, when a student was executed. He was later found innocent. "





8. The Head Crusher








"The head crusher was widely used during most of the Middle Ages, especially the Inquisition. With the chin placed over the bottom bar and the head under the upper cap, the torturer slowly turned the screw pressing the bar against the cap.

This resulted in the head being slowly compressed. First the teeth are shattered into the jaw; then the victim slowly died with agonizing pain, but not before his eyes were squeezed from his sockets.

This instrument was a formidable way to extract confessions from victims as the period of pain could be prolonged for many hours if the torturer chose to. This could be done by repeatedly turning the screw both ways.

If the torture was stopped midway, the victim often had irreparable damage done to the brain, jaw or eyes.

Many variants of this instrument existed, some that had small containers in front of the eyes to receive them as they fell out of their sockets. "



9. Iron Maiden





"The Iron Maiden, otherwise known as the Virgin of Nuremberg, was a device used from the XVI century to torture criminals.

It stands 7 feet tall and is able to accommodate a man. The victim was tied inside the Maiden and one of the two doors was shut, penetrating the victim's flesh with the strategically-placed spikes that didn't penetrate any vital organs. When completely closed, the screams from the victim could not be heard outside, nor could the victim see any light or hear anything. This increased the psychological pain. Additionally, the spikes blocked the wounds so it took many hours - or even days - for death to occur.

If the door was opened, the victim would stand in the exact same position so if the torturer chose to close the door again, the spikes would penetrate the exact same wounds. Sometimes the door was intermittently closed to maximize the victim's pain without delivering death."



10. Judas Cradle





"The Judas Cradle, a terrible medieval torture where the victim would be placed on top of a pyramid-like seat. The victim's feet were tied to each other in a way that moving one leg would force the other to move as well - increasing pain.

The triangular-shaped end of the Judas cradle was inserted in the victim's anus or vagina. This torture could last, depending on some factors discussed below, anywhere from a few hours to complete days.

Death Factors

The time it took someone to die varied enormously from individual to individual. Torturers would sometimes add weight to the victim's legs as to increase pain and hurry the victim's death. Other torturers would place oil on the device which increased pain considerably.

This device was rarely, if at all, washed. If the victim did not die quickly enough, or their painful execution was interrupted, they would invariantly die from an infection.

The victim was sometimes rocked or made fall repeatedly onto the "pyramid". This was done so torturers could acquire vital information from the victim. If he or she refused to talk, the torturer would either add more weight to the victim or make him or her fall repeatedly on the device.

Other information

The Judas cradle was called the culla di Giuda in Italian, the Judaswiege in German and The Wake in French.

The victim was usually naked when subject to the Judas Cradle. This was to increase humiliation.

To prolong the victim's life and cause more pain, torturers would sometimes rise the victim with ropes for the night and continue the torture during the morning.

A common variant of the Judas Cradle was the Impalement Torture - equally painful."



If you want to know more about Impalement, Click Here


It looks like this :








11. The Knee Splitter





"The knee splitter, a terrible torture, was mostly used during the Inquisition. What this instrument accomplished was to permanently render the knees useless.

Even though the name implies that this instrument was only used for "splitting" knees, it was also used in other body parts including: the elbows, arms and even the lower legs.

As the torturer turned the handle, the claws slowly slammed against each other mutilating any skin in between. The number of spikes the knee splitter contained varied from three to more than twenty.

There were many variants to this instrument. Some claws were heated beforehand to maximize pain - others had dozens of small claws that penetrated the flesh slowly and painfully.

Even though this method very seldom provoked direct death, it was often followed by other more painful methods if the victim refused to cooperate. "




12. Lead Sprinkler





"At first sight, it looks like a holy water sprinkler, but in reality it's a bit more complex. The torturer poured molten metals in one end and its contents slowly rushed to the other side where they fell on any part of the victim's body. Many executions occurred with this instrument.

A common way to execute a victim was by pouring molten silver on his eyes. This caused a great deal of pain and eventually provoked death. "



13. Pear of Anguish










"The Pear of Anguish was used during the Middle Ages as a way to torture women who conducted a miscarriage, liars, blasphemers and homosexuals.

A pear-shaped instrument was inserted into one of the victim's orifices: the vagina for women, the anus for homosexuals and the mouth for liars and blasphemers.

The instrument consisted of four leaves that slowly separated from each other as the torturer turned the screw at the top. It was the torturer's decision to simply tear the skin or expand the "pear" to its maximum and mutilate the victim.

The Pear of Anguish was usually very adorned to differentiate between the anal, vaginal and oral pears. They also varied in size accordingly.

This torture very rarely provoked death, but was often followed by other torture methods. "




14. The Rack






"The rack is commonly considered the most painful form of medieval torture. It was a wooden frame usually above ground with two ropes fixed to the bottom and another two tied to a handle in the top.

The torturer turned the handle causing the ropes to pull the victim's arms. Eventually, the victim's bones were dislocated with a loud crack. If the torturer kept turning the handles, some of the limbs were torn apart, usually the arms.

This method was mostly used to extract confessions, as not confessing meant that the torturer could stretch more. Sometimes, torturers forced their victim to watch other people be tortured with this device to implant psychological fear.

Many knights from the Knights Templar were tortured with the rack. The limbs collected from this and other punishments of the time were "emptied by the hundreds".

Sometime this method was limited to dislocating a few bones, but the torturer often went too far and rendered the legs or arms (sometimes both) useless. In the late Middle Ages, some new variants of this instrument appeared. They often had spikes that penetrated the victim's back - as the limbs were pulled apart, so was his spinal cord increasing not only the physical pain, but the psychological one of being handicapped at best, too."

15. The Spanish Spider







"The Spider was designed to mutilate a woman's breasts. The spider is nothing but a variation of the famous breast ripper, though the spider is believed to be more painful.

The spider was usually chained to the wall - the claws were usually heated before being fixed to the woman's breasts. The torturer just had to pull the woman away from the wall to successfully remove her breasts.

This was a brutal punishment that often resulted in the victim's demise. Fortunately, it was rarely used and only reserved for women who committed very serious crimes: miscarriage and adultery.

The spider is also known as the Spanish Spider because it was used during the Spanish Inquisition. "



16. The Wheel







"This device was used as a capital punishment during the Middle Ages. Reserved for hated criminals, The Wheel always killed its victim, but did so very slowly.

The Wheel originated in Greece and quickly spread to Germany, France, Russia, England and Sweden. The device consists of a large wooden wheel with many spokes. The victim's limbs were tied to the spokes and the wheel itself was slowly revolved. Through the openings between the spokes, the torturer usually hit the victim with an iron hammer that could easily break the victim's bones. Once his bones were broken, he was left on the wheel to die, sometimes placed on a tall pole so the birds could feed from the still-living human.

In France, many executioners used the coups de grâce, which caused lethal injuries, to make the victim's death faster. When extreme pain was desired, the victim just had his bones broken and left there to die. It could take up to two or three days for him to die of dehydration. "




And last but not least...


17. The Thumb Screw








"The victim's fingers were placed inside the instrument and slowly crushed as the torturer turned the handle on top. This method was primarily used to extract confessions as it was both painful and very lasting.

If the victim refused to speak, the torturer could choose from many other torture methods.

The same instrument was also used to crush victim's toes.

A bigger variant of the instrument that followed the same principle was used to crush victim's feet, knees and elbows. The Head Crusher was used for crushing the head.

A similar device was used for medical purposes in order to straighten the fingers of warriors who had been injured. The effectiveness of such instrument is debated. "





If these have not satisfied your sadistic needs, or if you're just plain curious, you can check out the links in my credits.



*Credits:

http://worldofwonder.net/?tag=machines-of-malice
http://www.medievality.com/torture.html
http://medieval-castles.org/index.php/impaling_torture




Loves.

Treatment

When I started this blog (Sitandwhine), I wanted a goal for it, or rather, for myself. It wasn't about hitting the most visits per day, nor was it of me wanting people to talk about my posts while on the streets in Singapore.

It was more like (from my blog's introduction. And The 2 questions were "Have you found joy in your life?" and "Have your life brought joy to others?") bringing joy to my life and to others through my posts, where I share information not only about my life but also about others, as well as opinions too.


But over the year, this goal kept slipping away from my reach, making it harder to get any step closer to my goal.

This went as horrendous as making up revengeful things(like the "water treatment") to do to people my friends and I disliked. But we often ended up bursting in laughter, with nothing much done. But come to think of it, it still isn't very pleasant.


The thought of not helping those whom I felt were deserving still lingered in my head, until one day, when i received this email.

Five (5) lessons to make you think about the way we treat people.

___

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor
gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student
and had breezed through the questions until I read
the last one:

'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?'

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the
cleaning woman several times. She was tall,
dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question
blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if
the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

'Absolutely,' said the professor. 'In your careers,
you will meet many people. All are significant. They
deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
is smile and say 'hello.'

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her
name was Dorothy.

___

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:3 0 p.m., an older African American
woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway
trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had
broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man stopped to help her, generally
unheard of in those conflict-filled 60s.. The man
took her to safety, helped her get assistance and
put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a
giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A
special note was attached..

It read:
'Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain drenched not only my
clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying
husband's bedside just before he passed away.. God
bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving
others.'

Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.

___

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him..

'How much is an ice cream sundae?' he asked.

'Fifty cents,' replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and
studied the coins in it.

'Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?' he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress was growing impatient.

'Thirty-five cents,' she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

'I'll have the plain ice cream,' he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on
the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice
cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress
came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the
table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had
to have enough left to leave her a tip.

___

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock Some of the
king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the
stone to the side of the road. After much pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed
a purse lying in the road where the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note
from the King indicating that the gold was for the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The
peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

___

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a
hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who
was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only
chance of recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had
developed the antibodies needed to combat the
illness.. The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would
be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a
deep breath and saying, 'Yes I'll do it if it will
save her.' As the transfusion progressed, he lay in
bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did,
seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his
face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, 'Will I start to die right away'.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to save her but he had chosen to save her anyway.

This totally changed my conception of helping people out. Who are we to judge who's worth it or not? But as mush as I want to help, I still find helping strangers way easier and less complaining, than helping our own kin. But I'm still trying to change that concept!



Loves.