Essay mill: World records

Oh, wow! Another world record has been trashed. Throw confetti! Wear party hat! Ha. When was the last time we did that? We don't really seem to care much for new world records, do we? In this next essay, I'll be taking a look at world records and what they might mean to us.

I'm beginning to see how this kind of question can become a problem for essay writers. I'm barely getting warmed up, and I have to end it abruptly bcause I've already breached the 800 word limit.

Do you agree that the breaking of a world record is a significant event?

Post mortem: Could use more examples, almost exclusive focus on athletic records (there are other kinds of world records, y'know), gross overgeneralization, dubious evidence -- may be factually incorrect, some circumlocution.

Essay mill project

Welcome to my new personal project! It's an essay mill from which I churn out essays to lousy essay questions, and I already have a few doozies lined up. Obviously, these essays are going to be of no help to anyone taking any exam this or any other year. They're purely going to be for my own entertainment and self-indulgence, mainly to see what kind of nonsense arises out of badly-thought out questions. So here's the first of, I hope, many more to come:

How far would you agree that foreigners regard Singapore as "unique"?

Post mortem: A bit hyperbolic in places, naive in others. Some reasoning is contrived, and it generally reads like NE propaganda.

The facade falls

Don't like my new style. Makes me sound too morose. Might as well be Twittering if I want to write two lines at a time. Anyway, I'm embarking on a new personal project that should ensure lengthier entries for at least the next few days. Stay tuned.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I've been masquerading as a teacher for so long. The facade has never really fooled anyone, except maybe myself. Fact is, I can't see the reality that the kids are just 18 years old while I'm expecting them to perform like undergrads already. It takes other people to remind me to stop overestimating their capabilities and try to pitch material more at their level. But even up till now, I am still uncertain what an 18 year old is capable of. Obviously I don't know my audience well enough at all.

So I've decided today to acknowledge myself for what I truly am. I'm not a teacher. I am just a guy who has a silly habit of reading... um, whatever, and has recently acquired another habit of scribbling stuff, perhaps hoping that one day it might get good enough for someone to actually read it.

Coincidentally, I've been told that this quirk of mine is a skill (a skill?) that our young people need to acquire, so I'll just be sharing my idiosyncracies with them if they are willing to give me some of their attention -- and many of them are. And so long as someone is happy to pay me for my services, I'll be more than happy to keep on sharing.

Sounds like win-win to me.

Faux pas of the day

Put foot in mouth in class. Described petanque to them as "people throwing steel balls at other people's balls". Hilarity ensued.

Wannabe

In American Idol, I've never envied any of the contestants -- not even the eventual winners. Here today, gone tomorrow, them. It's Ryan Seacrest who I want to be.

Looking ahead

The number of abortions is about 30% of the total number of live births in S'pore last year. This does not bode well for my retirement.

Bad dreams

Couple of nights waking up from disturbing dreams. I remember one with me committing some horrific, unthinkable deeds while apparently playing through an uncomfortably realistic simulation; and another of being cast out of polite society due to some minor infraction on my part. The two dreams were not related, occurring on two different nights. But no further details to be spoken of here 'cos I'm not asking to be psychoanalyzed -- I'm a bit afraid of the diagnosis.

Well, it has been a rather stressful weekend.