Last invig this morning, which means I'm officially on vacation! Well, apart from some personal administration to take care of, that is. Still, I'm on my own time now and let next year bring what it will bring.

Boring ol' me spent the day with HL2 again. The current challenge is to defeat a whole bunch of 'striders,' immensely tall, spindly-legged mobile gun platforms. My 3 surviving squad mates are armed with 2 rocket launchers and a machine gun. My own rocket launcher is out of ammo, so I haven't a prayer of taking down a strider that's now blocking my path. The 2 idiots with rocket launchers refuse to engage the strider on grounds that their life expectancy would be significantly reduced if they did. So I'm a bit stuck. Maybe I should run out of the hole I'm hiding in and see if there are any spare rockets conveniently lying around just begging to be used. Not today, though. Gotta save some action for tomorrow too.

Finished duty early, about 10:45 am, so I went into Orchard Road for an early lunch before meeting Sham. It's been a long while since I went into Orchard by myself. These days, I hardly have a reason to go there at all.

Lunched at Pastamania, Scotts. Ordered prawns n 'shrooms on penne in a white wine sauce. Though the pasta was slightly underdone, on the whole it didn't disappoint. Prawns firm and fresh, 'shrooms, flavourful. The dish could use a handful of finely sliced raw button mushrooms for added texture and taste, but not many people would accept raw mushrooms on their plate.

Met Sham over a macchiato. It's good to discuss our ideas with an experienced scriptwriter. She kept us focused on the important details, avoiding distractions and complications, and in the end we created a workable storyline. Jane and Arron will learn a lot from working with her. I feel a lot more confident now about Drama Night '05.

Got home and it was back to HL2. The stages of driving vehicles is over. Squad-play is the next thing. There's nothing like having an ever-respawning group of alien monsters you can use as cannon-fodder to take flak on your behalf. They're loyal and mindless and they take out lots of enemy with ruthless efficiency. Having a squad of human beings is a little different. You want to take care of your human buddies 'cos you know they're not replaceable. So far, I've experienced both styles of squad mates. Doom 3 is such a lonely experience in comparison.

HL2 is already affecting my dreams. Last night I dreamt that the Earth was being invaded by alien spiders. I fought the invasion valiantly but it was a lost cause. Spider venom turned people into green-skinned, happy, zombie-like beings with no other thought in their minds than picking fruit from trees. At the end, I didn't make it. I was murdered by a fellow human being who thought I was burgling his house. I shouldn't have bothered.

Oh my! Wednesday already? Spent the whole day with Half-Life 2, immediately after invigilation, that is. Awesome game! Such detailed graphics, brightly lit outdoor spaces making the dark corners even more creepy by contrast. Clever puzzles to find pathways through the story, though tough, so far I've been able to figure them out through observation of the environment and occasionally blind trial and error.

The tension in the zombie chapter was way high, with an unending swarm of respawning zombies and rapidly depleting ammo adding pressure to finding the way out to the next checkpoint that much more terrifying. We get to drive vehicles too, and fire unlimited rounds at all and sundry from the mounted weapons. Steering is a little odd, using keys that I'm not used to 'cos I use a different set playing NFS:UG2. The buggy tends to get hung up a lot and even overturns if you aren't careful driving it. Here's a tip: use your gravity gun to get it upright again fast.

How absorbing and atmospheric is HL2? Well, Momo was sleeping in the beanbag behind my chair last night while I was killing um... things. I was concentrating so hard, I didn't hear June coming in to surprise Momo. All of a sudden, I noticed a long haired shoulder-height head appearing from behind my left shoulder. I screamed. She screamed. We clutched our own hearts for a moment then burst into relieved laughter. Momo slept right through it all.

The right key on Watson's keyboard has lost a corner. I must have rubbed it smooth through years of continuous use. Just noticed it.

I hate head crabs!

Looks like another mad week including the coming weekend. Only day to rest up might be tomorrow, Tuesday, and I intend to make the most of it.

Today I was working out the Drama Club's Action Plan for 2005, discussing the club's budget with the new Arts Coordinator, and being briefed about my role in this year's LTC (though I never wanted to ever participate in one of these things -- the Great Outdoors holds little promise for a city-boy like me).

The Action Plan is an annual administrative exercise to justify the activities we intend to carry out in the coming year. It also needs to factor in facilities and logistics needed, working backwards from the club's main event, Drama Night. Much of this practical planning is heavily dependent on our script which, as I speak, is still being mulled over by our budding student scriptwriters who may be in over their heads with this task.

It's time to call in the professionals, and this morning, I was lucky enough to contact an old friend, Sham, who is willing to give us a hand. Depending on the amount and scope of work required, her rates range from a coffee to, "um... haven't thought about it yet." At this point in time, my estimate is that what she can do for us will be worth at least a plantation or two. If she's helping, it's a load off my mind. Phew.

My replacement credit card arrived a couple of days ago with the instruction to use it within a fortnight, presumably to see if it is working. I tested it out at Swenson's over dinner. Their special this month is a mixed grill comprising a small steak, chicken, catfish and a couple of sausages. I like my steaks (bloody) rare, so a steak grilled to charcoal perfection isn't my idea of good meat. Also a lack of lamb chops takes a certain something away from the concept. Nevertheless, I was feeling carnivorous and a platter of sizzling animal matter, whatever the condition, made me happy and I wasn't about to complain.

Oh yeah. The credit card works!

Viewed Please Teach Me English on DVD. Forced to choose an English nickname for her English class, our heroine comes up with "Candy" in an effort to break away from the plain Jane image that the class, and everyone else around her attribute to her. Candy is hyperimaginative, like Ally McBeal, and she lives in a fantasy world of romance and where real-life conflicts present themselves to her as impossible-to-beat video games or as overblown action dramas.

In class, Candy finally meets the boy she's "been waiting for." Elvis flirts with every woman he encounters; hence much of the story is about Candy's different efforts to get him interested in her exclusively. Sometimes she tries too hard, like when she commandeers a public bus to tail him when she suspects he is going to have a secret rendezvous with pretty blonde Cathy, their English teacher.

The movie pokes fun at the Korean's absurdly high regard for "public officials," and considers the need and value of learning English, a foreign language, in one's own native country -- which sounds better and more sincere to a Korean, "I love you," or "sarang he?" There is emphasis on strong family bonds, and it is also quite clear that learning the English language is not a result of Western cultural imperialism, but rather a reflection of the reality of the times; and that native English speakers (i.e., Europeans) are equally keen to master the Korean language as well.

Quite a fun movie with laughs and some melodrama, perhaps cliched in places, but it helped pass an afternoon easily.

Connie's "N1 Synergy" thing was at the Library@Esplanade this afternoon. She had tapped me way in advance about this and I promised her a 10 minute mime demo and another 10 minutes of interactive talk time with the audience.

I intended to work on my demo as soon as the 'A's began but I didn't actually start rehearsing anything till this morning after June left for her follow-up eye exam at TTSH. It's not that I created something from scratch: these were a couple of skits that I've wanted to play for a long time, but never found an audience for them until today. No... actually, I have shown them during one of the JC1 GP lectures early this year, but in a completely unrehearsed, unpolished form to a captive audience. About 1+ hours' polishing went into the skits this morning then it had to do for the library's audience.

2 skits, one entitled, "Burglary," and the other, "Quality Time," debuted in front of a 'live' and mobile audience this afternoon. "Burglary," is quite straightforward. A pared-down version of a previous solo skit I devised a very long time ago. In this version, the burglary is carried out as the burglar finds solutions to opening various doors he finds placed as obstacles in front of him. "Quality Time," came out of an improv session also a long time ago and it deals with the complex relationship between a father and a son.

Both skits still feel rough and raw. What can you expect from only 1+ hours' rehearsal time? Tina would say that they are still full of "frou-frou" movements, meaning that there are still many incidental, unintended movements and gestures that mess up the story. Not pared-down minimally enough, in other words. Connie got it all on video, so I'd like to borrow the tape and see for myself just what the audience saw... and cringe.

The programme ended way earlier than expected. The poetry recitals lasted a fraction of the time that was budgeted for, so I had to extend my audience yak for far longer than the expected 10 minutes. I guessed this might happen, so I took the opportunity to give a rather reluctant audience a few pointers about "creating objects in space." Elements of shape, size, pliability (stiffness), and weight (or mass, or resistance) are essential to creating the believability of an invisible thing (ball, box, door, cup, etc.). So I got the audience slightly freaked out passing invisible objects among themselves.

If not for the enthusiasm of a little tourist boy and his Mom seated in the front row, my fellow performers in the back (Shan and entourage, Jane, and Anne) and a local kid who was watching though he wasn't even in the audience (he was seated in the cafe), I would have lost steam partway through my spiel. I still had to end the session earlier than budgeted 'cos I was running out of things to occupy the audience with, but I think at least I quit while I was ahead. That is, while I still had an audience.

Spent the rest of the evening wandering around Suntec City with June who came to support me. Bless her. Dinner at Kenny Roger's. June bought a clutch bag made of authentic kimono material in preparation for the prom. We also bought 2 Korean movie DVDs (2 for $30) at Blue Max. Teach Me English was playing on their plasma display and it looked quirky enough to catch our attention. I picked up Natural City to see how the Koreans interpret sci-fi. Also bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables from Carrefour 'cos they were cheap.

Oh yeah. Also Half-Life 2 is up and running. Once again, I'm feeling the effects of motion sickness so I'm sticking to Easy mode and playing only in small chunks at a time. 'scuse me, head crabs need my attention...

Had to swap out of invig duty today to attend the department meeting this morning. Invig has been so boring so far that it was a welcome break to meet everyone in the department again even though it was the same old meeting -- the kind that promises us that we're going to be even more busy than ever before. In business circles this is good news, but we aren't in that kind of business. Still, at least we can say we'll be safely employed for at least another year.

1000 students. 2 choices: to take 3 GP + 2 PW classes; or 4 GP + 1 PW and no CT. I opted for the latter. There are a few additional department duties to share out as well, like a committee to look into how to do up our GP "home" rooms properly, and a committee to improve our English language standards. Grammar Nazi Mei, how would you like to come back as a relief and help us out here?

We figured out our resource teams, our lecture teams and broke off by level (JC1, JC2) to discuss things in further detail. At JC1 level we did some brainstorming, mindmapping, big-picture scenario visualizing, then decided that Term 1 next year would be a good deadline to get all our resource packages done and disseminated. Simple, fast, efficient, decisive. Lunch and bowling to follow.

Lunch with Vince and Anthony was at the Roti Prata House on Thomson Road. Crispy prata, rich curry dip, though it took quite a long time for my order to arrive. They must have been timing it for Cara's arrival. Hurmph. Amy, Bee and HP joined us even later, after yet another short meeting following the Department one.

Finally got to use Anthony's cheap bowling coupon at Victor's Superbowl, Marina South. Average pinfall for me though I can't remember exact numbers now. We coached Bee (haven't bowled since 14) and HP (1st time bowler) and they made some good progress though they really need more practice. Our bowling "graduates" Amy and Cara maintained their form, Cara bowling impressively well, considering she hasn't bowled for months. Her 1st rolls are dead straight down-the-middle rockets which don't leave many pins standing for her next roll. She still needs to work on getting her spares, though.

Picked up Half-Life 2 on my way home. No time to load it up tonight but at least I know I have it, heh heh.

Oli is gone from Idol. A victim of the numbers game, and as June correctly predicted, she didn't lose out because she lacked talent. She lost out 'cos she didn't have the market support that Sly's xiao3 mei4 mei4 fanbase gave him. Oli appeals to a more mature taste, the kind that appreciates her music but is too mature to do anything trivial like, oh... maybe vote for her? Sly's fans are more in tune with SMS culture and think nothing of casting repeat votes on a whim. No surprise result tonight. Oli's good; she just won't sell as many records as the pretty-boy. Sad, but realistic.

Well, that's it. It's been about 24 hours since we repatriated Flirt. We thought the parting would be traumatic, as she has been accustomed to the good life over the last 3 weeks. But she seemed quite happy to go home. At first, she didn't know exactly where she was because of the upgrading being done to the Square where she lived. When she climbed out of her basket, things were looking familiar and she ran off to explore the rest of her environment without a look back to us. Her old boyfriend, Skull, was there to welcome her back along with the rest of her family, so it was something of a reunion.

Here, free at last, she can go search for a suitable place to deliver Girlfriend's grandchildren, and raise them, as she was meant to, in the wild. OK. That's a bit romanticized. Whatever. Her kittens have a better chance of survival now. If we had gone ahead with her spaying, we would have had to terminate her pregnancy too and I was really feeling uncomfortable about that. Now, I feel much better.

June's got her left eye lasiked, tomorrow, her right. Everything looks good so far, heh, literally speaking.

Chemistry invigilation. Invigilated for one (1) candidate, all alone in the classroom, everyone else being in the hall. For some reason, this one candidate has requested isolation. Perhaps she gets too distracted when other people are around her. I overheard that she's expected to do super well, so that's probably why they're entertaining her request.

Supposed to go bowling at Superbowl (Marina South) to make use of Anthony's cheap bowling coupon. Anthony suddenly became too busy, so we called it off.

Half-Life 2 is supposed to have been released today. Too lazy to go down to SL Square. What's the rush, anyway? Actually, I got annoyed because at the time I wanted to go into town there happened to be an unusual dearth of taxis, and people kept jumping in front of me to steal MY taxi. Got fed up and went home instead. Ah well, saved roughly $60 bucks today, not counting transport, so I'm not too unhappy about it.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, 'rah! Hope the day was memorable and eventful for you, exam notwithstanding!

Everytime I think Watson is finally running properly, something happens to quickly dispell that illusion. Sunday night I had just purchased a brand new yellow Hummer H2 and was happily driving it around town raising havok as usual when my screen suddenly went blank. On-off, on-off, and the only thing that Watson could do was spin his fans and light up his LEDs. Motherboard dead.

I wonder if all this is happening because I keep opening him up, messing around with his insides ever so often? But if he didn't crap out so much, I wouldn't have to, would I?

Brought him to my dealer yesterday but the service centre was closed for the holiday (oh yeah, happy Hari Raya!). Dealer confirmed this morning that the motherboard was at fault. Had to buy a new one with compatible memory and pay for service as well. This mon... week has been amazingly expensive. Please, no further expenses, ok?

Multiple entries today. Let's start with Shark Tale and The Incredibles. Both animated movies are entertaining, coincidentally (or not) about the same theme: attempting to gain social acceptance by pretendng to be what one is not. In ST, Oscar makes himself out to be a superhero "Sharkslayer" when he is actually at the "bottom of the food chain, lower than whale poo." Mr Incredible and family are forced to live out their existence as ordinary folk, when in fact they are so much more.

Same theme different approach. ST offers hope that no matter how lowly we appear to be, we will always be "somebody" as long as we are true to ourselves. TI's hope is in that no matter how held back we feel, we are individually special and when we take the opportunity to use our gifts we can change our environment for the better.

Both movies acknowledge that it is in mutual acceptance of and cooperation with the people we are closest to (in ST, even if they are people we conflict with on a daily basis), that's when society actually begins to take notice of us. After all, if we don't acknowledge the ones who love us for who we are, who else in the world will acknowledge us?

One last thing: I wonder if the Incredibles are a tip of the hat to the first family of the superhero universe? They have almost the exact same powers as the Fantastic Four -- elasticity, superhuman strength, invisibility/psionic projection but in a different combination. Even the costume design and properties are similar to the FF's. Wonder how Marvel is going to react to this?

Does this look like a cat with liver problems to you?

Flirt's condition hasn't improved, according to our vet. He recommends that it will be in her best interest to allow her pregnancy to come to term and then after she heals up we can consider spaying her. In the meantime, he has prescribed a special diet for her which we are to administer over the next two weeks. This is going to be a problem as our two existing cats seem to be increasingly hostile to Flirt and the fact that we will be in Oz around the time of her delivery means that we can't look after the new kittens when they come.

Possible solutions:
Anyone interested in offering a good home to a cute (though short tailed) young feline mother and her kittens, please apply immediately to me. Now. Or...
We will return Flirt to where she came from after a week of further treatment and let her deliver naturally, like in the way her mother delivered her.
Can there be any other viable alternatives?

Q-tip's new look

This sad looking chihuahua is actully Q-tip shorn of all fluff. She's developed a skin allergy, to what the vet doesn't know except that there's some bacterium involved. Apparently it's a common problem amongst the maltese breed. He's prescribed her an antibiotics course and hopefully it'll clear up soon and she will have a new coat to wear come the New Year.

Pix courtesy of Naughty By Nature

June "won" a $550 voucher for a makeover/glamour photoshoot from image consultants, Naughty by Nature. The voucher included makeover for spouse as well so since we didn't get our wedding shoot done we took the opportunuty to do a glamour shoot instead.

Quite obviously, most of the cosmetic retouching went to the wife whereas I had to content myself with a layer of foundation and a dash of lip gloss. It isn't usually a good idea to outshine the wife in a glam shoot, is it? It was her prize anyway.

We were in a quandry over what clothes to wear since we don't have anything "nice." So we went informally, hence the above.

Warm, friendly, chatty staff. Makeover and shoot were free, but to get the results in a professionally done package it cost quite a bit. $1,288 for a graphically enhanced (eyebags, blemishes removed, etc.) leather-bound damage-resistant album, 2 poster sized shots of our choice, 1 desktop shot of our choice, a CD-ROM containing all our shots (nice or not) and including a major discount if immediately paid for in full.

When it came time to pay, I discovered that my credit card had lost one corner and it was split all the way along the magnetic strip. Nestled in my wallet, it had unsuccessfully tried to take the shape of my butt and pathetically perished in the attempt. I had to max out my NETS and June came to the rescue with her credit card to pay off the balance. Must remember to reimburse her quickly as there is yet another major expense coming up soon. June's lasik treatment this coming weekend.

This year's AWS is going to be most welcome.

Went in to college and it's still a madhouse. Staff still busy with assessments, but there is an excitement in the air, like we're working on our own time, free and easy, and we're all upbeat because we are already in vacation mood.

Met Pete along with the other NYeDC advisors to work on next year's budget. Pete has some really good ideas for the club, and it's gratifying to know that he is on the same wavelength as me regarding the club's future direction. While we're budgeting for 2005, our plans extend to 2006 where we might just see a difference in the nature and operation of the club. A new professionalism will be the name of the game, and I hope we're not being too ambitious about it.

Picked up NFSU2 and while it is a free-to-explore city to drive around in, Exploration Mode is only our interface to finding races and upgrading and modifying our cars. The actual races are still on rails, but this way it seems to be the best of both worlds. Freedom to choose whatever you want to do, yet when the choice is made, the path to the objective is made clear, without getting lost in a mass of further choices. A lesson for us in education, perhaps?

Leaving the house soon. My brainwave for tonight: watch a late screening of Shark Tale which we will time to end so that we can catch The Incredibles immediately after. Animation double-bill. Be back soon!

Happy Deepavali, y'all! Took advantage of the public holiday to sleep in till about 9am. What luxury. Didn't really do much after that. We were quite bored facing the prospect of spending the day in front of the TV (and Watson, respectively) so we explored Ikea which was crowded like they were giving stuff away for free or something.

The first sight that greeted us was this long line of people loaded up with armsful of merchandise waiting for a taxi. The line stretched beyond the DIY hardware store on the ground floor, and loads of other shoppers pursuing other objectives packed out the place.

Of course we had to go against the current, entering at the POS and work our way backwards to the cafe where we rewarded ourselves with the usual, Swedish Meatballs and deep fried chicken wings. With the meatballs swimming in thick, creamy brown gravy, cranberry sauce on the side and 'taters for padding; and hot, juicy, oily crispy chicken, I'm not entirely sure the meal was healthy, but we were disciplined. No dessert.

We bought 6 packs of curtain rail mountings which we'll use to support the curtains June brought back from BKK. We also bought a plastic wall-mounted container, which I believe June will stick a fern into someday; and a length of Christmas tinselly stuff to make our place look a little more seasonal.

Christmas will be here soon! Yay!

Ahh... testimonials finished and I don't have to carry this guilty feeling around any longer. Let's see, in 03A2 there are some musicians, a couple of performance artists, an artisan, a pastry chef, a [media] critic, a number of athletes, a couple of teachers, and a few others who haven't quite found themselves yet. Have fun guessing who's who.

Next on the agenda: devise a mime demo for Connie's performing arts um... thing at the Esplanade Library next week; begin an e-project for English Dept; start training NYeDC for next year's Drama Night; and maybe someday get around to clearing my desk of junk and trash too. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Oh, the new staff posting to NYeDC is official. Cara's gone (Ministry); and Yee's gone (Library and Pre-U Sem need him too badly). Meet the new head of NYeDC (yipes!); and joining me are Mel and Peter K. Amongst the 3 of us, I hope at least 1 of us can be the organized, adminstratively inclined one. Guess I'd better start brushing up on Producer skills then. Sigh.

Wanted to check out the PC game shops this evening 'cos I heard NFS:U2 has been released! I hope there's going to be a completely driveable cityscape this time rather than a city-on-rails like it was before. *I checked: "Free-Roaming City," I guess that means yes; hurrah!

PC shops around the Yishun, Bishan area just aren't up-to-date though. I think I'm going to wait a week, then get NFS:U2 together with HL 2. Won't that be a blast? Watson needs a serious workout. Neopets games don't do his capabilities any justice.

Sleep tight, folks. For me tonight, I know I will.

College is still buzzing with activity. The J1 tutors are still hard at work with PW assessment and the word, 'vacation,' still doesn't mean much to anyone. And here I was, expecting to find a little peace and quiet to get my testimonials out.

Testimonial survival tips:
Look up the central database of comments that other tutors have written about your students.
Also look up the database of CCA records and PFT results.
Locate relevant info, copy, paste and edit as necessary.
Recall events or impressions of students that are not recorded anywhere and use this info to 'customize' each testimonial.
Where info duplicates, copy, paste, edit as necessary.
For 'difficult' individuals, save them to the last. By then there should be sufficient material from which to copy, paste... you get the drill.

Will my testimonials be ready by the new deadline? Hell, yeah! They won't be works of art, but they're honest, unbiased accounts put together from many different viewpoints, so they should be quite objective too.

Had a big scare looking at my invigilation schedule today. 3 hour paper and it looked like I was going to be relieved for only 20 minutes. That seemed quite inhuman, and I began wondering how a eulogy would sound like for someone who had died of boredom. "Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant," I silently acknowledged the Chief Invig. Fortunately for me, I had misread the schedule (it was a confusing piece of paper) and my relief was for 80 minutes in 2 separate blocks. Sense prevails!

Maybe next time I'll opt to invigilate at AJ, not because there's anything wrong with YJ, but because more of the people I hang out with have gone there (at least I think so). There's little advantage as far as commuting time is concerned and it's really dull just getting the day's duty done, then not even a sociable lunch to look forward to after that.

I wanted to go back to college to work after duty this morning, but then it looked like it was about to rain. I couldn't get a cab as it seemed to be that time of day when everybody else wants a cab too, and so I got lazy and went home instead. Thought I could work just as easily at home as in college. Uh huh.

I want a real vacation.

I mentioned I needed to get started on my testimonial writing at least a couple of weeks back, but as of last Friday's deadline, I still haven't got them done yet. With so many other more immediate concerns to deal with, it's hard to see how testimonials that will be distributed next year can have much priority. Good thing the deadline has been pushed back to a later date; time is still on my side.

Anyway, I've been sort of working hard on them this weekend, and stressing myself out choosing the 'right' words to say what I feel about 03A2. Partly it's because I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to writing that I feel the compulsion to make a simple letter of reference sound 'good.' Then I get frustrated and discouraged when the words don't sing. Paralysis sets in, and I'm back to the Neopets website again regaining satisfaction by achieving easier goals (I won a 2nd place trophy for Meriball, imagine that!).

This attitude isn't helping me reach my deadline, though. I have to remember that it's more important to state facts that will help a potential employer make a decision rather than blow people away with literary flamboyance. The testimonials are about my students, not about me.

Right. Just the facts, then.

Hi-tech is supposed to save us work? Today's language exam put our new bar-code scanners to use again and if there was any evidence of work saved I certainly didn't see it.

The procedure is supposed to go like this:
Candidates are saved of the work of writing their names on their answer scripts. Instead they paste a large bar code label that we invigilators issue to them. We then use our handy little hand-held device to scan each bar code to take attendance. We scan the bar codes again at the end of the paper to ensure that everyone who took the paper has handed them in to be marked. Accurate, easy, efficient, just as it would sound on someone's EWSS suggestion. No wonder we jumped on the idea.

Implementation:
Candidates' individual labels come printed on computer forms, conveniently perforated for our tearing convenience. As the paper begins, the invigilator struggles with ripping apart the forms and arranging them in numerical order so it's easier to distribute them once they have been separated. I'm sure the sound of paper tearing has a demoralising effect on an important exam, not to mention the occasional cusses of the invigilator whenever he encounters a particularly tough piece of label that may or may not tear at the right place.

On distributing said labels, we still have to check if the labels correspond to the person who happens to be sitting at that particular spot. *Goes desk to desk checking ID for verification. Now we take attendance by scanner. *Goes desk to desk scanning labels for attendance. Next, we pass on the scanner to the next door invigilator with whom we have to share. *Goes next door, hands scanner over. Oh, we still have to take attendance manually??? *Applies pen to paper ticking off manual attendance list. Part 1 done.

At the end of the paper we collect the answer scripts and the bar-code counterfoils. *Goes desk to desk collecting said items. We pass the time counting collected items while waiting for the invigilator whom we shared the scanner with to give the scanner back to us. *Goes next door to help self to the scanner after an appropriately polite wait. We scan through our set of collected scripts to verify the numbers. *Scans hastily as Candidates have been sitting through 3+ hours of exam taking and probably need a toilet break ASAP. In our haste we may have missed scanning one or two scripts. *Stares uncomprehendingly at why the number of scripts collected fails to tally with attendance recorded. We slowly trace the stray scripts whose bar codes did not get captured. *Feels 30 eye-daggers prickling back of neck. Finally locate stray scripts and scan them to the scanner's satsfaction. Release the candidates at last. *Goes to fetch a bucket and mop for those who couldn't hold it any longer.

Mom always said if I didn't study any harder I'd end up as a checkout clerk at a convenience store. Shoulda' sat for my MA.

Now I remember why I avoid taking the bus. YJC is only 5-10 minutes from my place by car, but on the bus it takes 45 minutes! My miscalculation nearly made me late for my invigilation duty this morning; and in fact I arrived just after the paper had started. Oh, that means I was late, lah. Going to have to wake up earlier tomorrow, then. What's the point of opting to do duty at a center near my house, I ask you?

Wonder what people made of the GP Eaxm? The essays looked kinda' boring, but at least they weren't difficult to interpret. Paper 2 was an eyebrow raiser. Quite a philosophical topic and some strange questions to answer. I bet this Paper will raise lots of comments amongst the students. Wait for it...

YJ campus is quite tight on security. Every car coming in and leaving is recorded on a clipboard. Visitors likewise have to sign in at the security checkpoint and receive a clearance sticker to adorn your person. We invigilators have to wear a large tag printed with the College crest, address, contact numbers, and the title of INVIGILATOR in large RED lettering. As if we weren't self-conscious enough already.

1 duty down, 9 duties left.

Marathon consultations from 9:30 to 7:00 today with only a short break for Cara's farewell lunch and an hour to meet the Drama Club Exco to debrief Halloween 04.

Hope those who came to me for consultation have got something out of our discussions together and their hard work will pay off in the GP paper tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. The Day we warned our students almost 2 years ago; the Day we've been preparing our students to face; the Day that no one believed will ever dawn. It's here.

My best wishes to everyone. You've been a wonderful batch to teach. I have really done all I can for you, wish I could have done more, but anyway, enjoy your paper tomorrow and start your 'A' Level campaign off on an upbeat note. Don't ever come back next year wearing the old browns again, hear?

We celebrated Cara's departure at Gayatri's. A number of J1 tutors were busy with PW so there weren't that many of us but we made enough noise to make Cara happy I guess. At the table were Nirmala, Anne, me, Vince, Joanna, Boon Sin, Amy and Anthony to see her off. Yah, that and to stuff ourselves with chicken korma, mutton mysore, chilli chicken, dum bryani (served in a deceptively tiny-looking pot), and all the rice and side veggies we could eat.

Nirmala said she prefers this restaurant to the more touristy "other one" down the road because the cuisine here was more authentic, not tailored to the tastes of our tourists. She was right. The flavour of a number of different spices brightened up each dish and though everything we ordered was familiar to me, the taste wasn't what I had expected. It was rich and full of body and robustness and, and, and... made the tongue work overtime? Something like that. Personally, the spice flavour went a little overboard for my taste and I think I prefer to eat at the "other one," but then I'm a peasant (or a tourist) when it comes to food.

Ciao, Cara! It's been fun! Thanks for your company, good fortune at the Ministry!

Had my longest consultations today with a couple of unscheduled drop-ins adding to my list. From 9 to about 5 advising various students on their concerns about GP Papers 1 and 2. Just a quick working lunch as a break at Gardens then back to work again. I actually had a great time teaching tiny groups of people who were actually attentive and interested in what I was teaching them. It felt good to be teaching to the students' interests and answering questions that they raised on their own accord, rather than answering questions I raise on their behalf since under normal tutorial conditions noone really asks anything. Why do they have to wait until 2 weeks before their exam before they start getting interested, though? Kids.

It has finally come to pass. I hear Cara's farewell lunch is on tomorrow, though I haven't been invited yet by whoever's organizing it. Well, hope her 2-year committment with the Ministry will fulfil her as much as her time spent with us. I've known her for at least 4 years now and it feels strange that she won't be with us next year. Who's left for us to tease endlessly and mercilessly at lunch? Mel? Hmm...

Forgot to add Flirt's vitamin powder into her dinner tonight. I am supposed to break open 1 capsule a day and mix half the contents in her food for easy ingestion. So I did what I thought was smart. I got hold of her after she had eaten and poured half a capsule of powder directly into her mouth. Trust me, it wasn't easy. She sputtered a bit then the powder suddenly reacted like sherbert. I had a little pregnant cat frothing yellow at the mouth and where she walked she left a trail of slippery vitamin-enhanced cat drool for me to wipe up. Fortunately she has a forgiving personality and doesn't seem to be holding this incident against me. Now I have to feed her her antibiotics. Wish me luck!

Rediscovered Neopets! Finally understood the instructions on how to let neopets.com through my firewall as a trusted site and saved my poor wocky and lupe from starving to death. After all that thinking from this morning, I could use the mindless distraction. See you in Meridell!

Used to be, this was the first week of the end-of-year vacation, at least for the J1s, tutors included. As of last year, this is the week that PW OP, WR and GPF assessment commences. J1 is no fun any more. Still, since the term is officially over, we now get to sleep in a little later and arrive on campus by 8am. Then depending on who has booked a consultation with us, and who actually shows up to make use of the booking, the day for us J2 tutors proceeds accordingly.

Indeed, it feels like things are finally slowing down for us. Classes are over and now it's just the wrapping up of our last gift to our students: their testimonials. Apart from that, it's just preparation for next year's work. Hopefully, I'll stay with the Drama Club, though with all the shuffling around of CCA advisors nothing can be guaranteed. I also opted to go back to J1 and start fresh with a new batch of kids even though I have PW to look forward to as a J1 tutor. I don't like the idea of following up on a class that is used to someone else's style and personality and has to adapt suddenly to my own. Hope HOD and LH2 are ok with getting some other J2 tutor to remain in J2 for another year.

June collected our travel tickets from the agent today. Australia, here we come! We'll be focusing on Sydney and the Gold Coast, free-and-easy. I'm buzzing with anticipation as I've never been to the smallest continent before, and our ininerary (that we planned and booked for ourselves) promises novel activities, picturesque vistas and lots of fresh seafood, not necessarily in that order. Will try blog my vacation, time and cybercafe permitting, or maybe keep a pencil-and-paper log then u/l it at any opportunity I can get. We'll be leaving immediately after the prom, so Ill avoid making the same mistake I made 2 years ago -- winging it off to Korea and conveniently forgetting about my date with the Librarians of '02 at what would have been my first prom night. I don't think anyone really missed me, right, ZL?

Flirt's become like our 3rd cat, though occasionally she appears homesick for her crappy rooftop. She probably misses her family and her boyfriend, Skull. At our place, Momo and Belle are quite mean to her, giving her the cold shoulder or even trading hisses with her whenever they make eye contact. We're supposed to keep Flirt for 2 weeks while we run an antibiotic course on her. Then we'll take her back to the vet for a follow up exam to see if the medication has done its job. Question then will be, do we release her back to her natural habitat, or will she be so comfortable with us by then that she'll have a hard time adapting back to her old home? Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

NYeDC ham it up at Halloween 2004!

Another Halloween event has been laid to rest. Amen. Hope all who participated had fun! I could see the organizers were workin' their butts off, and I for one truly appreciate the effort. For Ben to coordinate logistics and scheduling for this event within such a short time, I'd have to say he's proven himself most capable of being our Stage Manager for Drama Night '05. JT was almost tireless tonight, "putting out fires" all over the event venues and ensuring that things went according to plan, dealing decisively with unforseen circumstances in a responsible manner. Faz 'n Jaz stayed on top of things, managing the Haunted House, and as this station soon became increasingly popular, handled crowd control as well. Everyone who lined up for a tour got a tour even though it set back our schedule a little.

... too tired now to think of anything further. Will complete entry after some sleeep...

Edit 01:
It's difficult to assess how successful Halloween 04 was.

There could certainly be improvements made to the operations of the attractions, especially in marketing them, in crowd control and in ticket accountability; and other improvements to our allocation of human resources. We could have used an overall business plan that looked into enhancing the cohesion and profitability of the entire event. The groups involved needed to work more seamlessly with each other for a more unified 'feel' amongst the various attractions, and no group would feel 'secondary' to the proceedings.

On the other hand, different individuals showed their capability in throwing this hastily executed event together. They showed committment in working hard together on a common purpose and creativity in improvising solutions to problems as they came along. The event threw up a talented band, still rough and green in presentation, but entertaining nonetheless. We might still need to work on being more crowd-pleasing, but the basic foundations for a show for Drama Night 05 are here and they have passed their test. Now, if only we could get a script out in time...

Thanks everyone, for your work and your support for the event. To Rugby, Soccer, Biz Club, ICS, Dance, 04A1A, AV crew, Photogs and First Aiders (who thankfully remained unemployed all night). And NYP's dancers too.

Meet Flirt, Girlfriend's daughter, whom we are taking to be spayed today.

Doc just called and it's lucky we opted to spend $85 on a blood test for her. Anesthetizing her would be quite adverse to her health as her liver is not functioning normally. Besides, she's preggers (we have reason to suspect the old vetran, Ginger Tom) and Doc advises that she needs to be brought to term while being medicated at the same time to get her healthy again. Poor thing!

There are days in which there's nothing to blog home about, then there are days like today when so much happens, it's hard to remember everything at once.

It's the official last day of term, and everyone's gearing up for a long vacation, right? Well, not till PW's over, not till 'A's are over and certainly not till Halloween's over which takes place tomorrow evening. Ticket proceeds are for a good cause, so it's an invitation to our Year 2 students who need a short break from mugging your brains out to join us for an evening of revelry. Party ends at 9pm, so you can go home with a clear conscience! If you haven't been studying, well then it's your own judgement call. It's good to know that the Halloween team has been putting in another day's hard work, but without working hard there'll be no fun at the end of it all. Thanks for the effort, people!

My meeting at HQ was a re-examination of the programmes that fall under the category of NE in college. Some sacred cows, like many others in our society, are being considered for slaughter and the bigwigs are feeling out what sentiments might be like from us groundlings. Some good ideas came up for the running of the LJ and CIP that might steer these programmes towards a more realistic approach, more relevant to the interests of our students and more than just lip-service to their educational objectives. Might they not be run as one event fulfilling both objectives? Our NE pogramme could then function as one-stop station to facilitate student-initiated projects that are more relevant to their interests (i.e., CCA-based interests) and at the same time to the subjects they are studying (i.e., ST-based interests).

One major problem we have had before is that there is so much duplication of events attempting to fulfil more or less overlapping objectives that all our well-intentioned programmes become nothing more than an additional work burden to our students. Visits, etc., are carried out simply because they must. How mind-numbingly boring. Students do the work, we tutors get the credit for organizing the events, at least if we take a cynical view of the situation.

Perhaps we need to learn to decentralize, do away with a one-size-fits all solution and instead customize field trips according to the needs, interests and talents of the individual students who as a group request to visit a place they want to go to together, to do something they want to do as a team together, to learn something specific that they want to learn together. If we can suit the trips to Project Groups who are looking for primary resources of information for their research, that might be one more bird killed with a single stone.

Perhaps in the 2 years that a student spends in college, each student should only get 1 chance to propose and participate in 1 such field trip, and that's all. Each individual student will then have to choose his or her 1 trip very carefully, or lose the opportunity altogether. It sounds like hell to manage, but if the students find such a programme more meaningful, then we will find a way to manage. A lot of what-ifs and why-nots. I think that makes our discussion quite fruitful and I'm glad I went.

June and I joined Vince and Amy at Wild Rice's "The Visit of the Tai Tai," a delightfully bizarre, dark comedy with old friends (Tina and Ben) and familiar faces in the cast. The Tai Tai and her retinue represent promise, progress, science, opulence, everything the impoverished backwater town of Saitang aspires towards, but dealing with her is also making a pact with the devil, or at least a mockery of what was once human.

The premise is a complicated moral dilemma: for a large sum of money that will lift a starving community out of abject poverty, will that community correct an old injustice by committing a new one? Will common human decency prevail or will the temptation of economic salvation push a proud, upright citizenry to do unspeakable things to one of their own?

These questions resonate with us because we live in such times. Foreign investment is our only salvation; this is our reality. What are we prepared to lose of ourselves, our identity, our values, in order to make ourselves attractive to such investment? Is it worth it? And the answer isn't as automatic as we might think. The human will to survive at all cost is a pursuasive force, though it is easy to underestimate.

Right. Ivan requested us to sell the show if it meant something to us. "Tai Tai" runs till this Sunday, 1 November at the Victoria Theatre, so if you can spare the time and the cash, go. It's a great show!

Ever since Halloween came to college, I've become a nervous wreck this time of year. I worry if the event is ever getting off the ground; if the event will be publicized enough so that our student body will take some time off to come and have fun; yet not so well publicized that unwelcome guests crash the party and in so doing damage our assets or find trouble with our students, etc.

The first two years, I was in the centre of the event getting everything organized and I was just too busy to enjoy myself. Last year, it became more student-oriented and it was great as I started to take a back-seat and let the event run on its own, more or less. Last Halloween was a flamboyant affair, with emphasis on great-looking costumes and a very simple programme -- a haunted house tour, Bhangra till closing time with a best-costume judging thrown in.

This year, things seem to be falling into place at a slower, more methodical pace with the Drama Club leading the way. A more ambitious, varied programme involving more locations in our new building, but with the same general focus as last year, rockin' the house with music and dance. It was nice to see the club members hard at work today preparing material for this year's haunted house. I previewed the band and though they aren't exactly larger-than-life, they have a pretty good sound that should add to the festivities in a big way. Hope their equipment hold up, AV crew, please be on top of things.

One more announcement at assembly tomorrow and we're committed. Saturday evening I'll be a nervous wreck again hoping everything will turn out fine, everyone would have had a great time, nothing gets damaged in the process, and everyone gets home safe from a crazy, memorable experience. If we can do that, it'll be one more notch marking an event that will in time become integrated into our college culture. Jus' doin' my bit for my college.

I also received my SAF100 in the mail today. Normally, I'd be steeling myself up for 2 weeks of military discipline which I don't look forward to, but this time I'm being 'invited' to a 2-day course on using the new personal weapon, the SAR21! I've been looking forward to handling this new piece of equipment and I had thought they'd never give it to my unit this close to the end of our 13-year cycle. Time to trade in the old M16! Upgrade mania strikes again!

Rach must be one of Phoon Huat's best customers. That was a gorgeous chocolate cake to celebrate Mei's 18th with. Happy bdae to both Mei and Farisa! I don't actually pay attention to birthdays, but when I do get to hear about 'em, they deserve a mention.

Today I attended the wake of my Grand-Uncle, the oldest representative of Mom's side of the family. He lived to a ripe old age of 92, so he's lived his adult life through most of the tumultous times we only hear about in history and NE sessions. I vaguely remember that after his retirement he still volunteered to take school kids to various historical locations in Singapore and tell them about historical events from his experience, making him a walking, human narrator of our unbelievable past. Unbelievable, because the past that we keep hearing about seems so far removed from our present, though the time scale really is only 1 lifetime, no more.

He will also be remembered for his great faith as an Elder in his church, and he will be missed for his knowledge of Christian scripture and his service to the church that he spent most of his life with, even as a boy.

Oh, I just wrote a eulogy, didn't I?

Also met my ex-boss at the wake since he goes to the Grand-Unc's church. He essentially baby-sat me in my working life for four or five years while I tried to figure out how I really wanted to be gainfully employed. Basically, I was his personal assistant, accompanying him as he took on short-term jobs with one company after another. I helped him with his administrative tasks while he, erm, envisioned possibilities for new business ventures for whomever his employer was at the time. It was like being a squire to a ronin (masterless samurai) in the business world. He got all the excitement while I polished his katana. I didn't do much, I didn't get paid much, I didn't expect much, and I was contented, though not necessarily happy.

And Blogger's being a pain again. Guess this entry's going to be a day late.

There. Presentation made and one more pressure item is now off my list. 'sif and Kareen had suggested I talk about the video-making project, but I found I had less to say about that than about the download-neighbourhood-map-and-explore-area-on-foot exercise of this year. The presentation was about sharing thoughts and ideas about the "teach less, learn more" concept and I thought perhaps a negative example, i.e., how NOT to do it, would be a better learning point for all the teachers attending the sharing session.

It turned out to be a much smaller event than anyone expected, even to the organizer's surprise. Bad time of the year to organize an inter-school do. Everyone's busy with exams and other things. Yesterday, I was told to prepare for an audience of 30, which seemed ok as that will be about the size of most tutorial groups next year. Today, Thad and I arrived at the appointed time (though I had the honour of being designated last speaker) and no one else apart from the organizer was there. Eventually, 12 to 15 people arrived to hear the 5 presentations from 2 primary schools, 1 secondary school, and yours truly.

The first primary school presented twice, including one Prize Winning initiative for teaching language using DVD movies. The other primary school presented their idea of using games (Boggle, Scrabble, Pictionary...) in the teaching of English.

When it was my turn to present, my audience amounted to a grand total of 10; one group had to leave due to prior commitments. Guess I'm still not ready for prime time national reach yet. Still, what was left was a comfortable tutorial size.

The next challenge was how to eat all the food that had been catered for 30+? Ramadan didn't help the situation much. We ate what we could, said our thanks and goodbyes and waddled off for home, decision being that the remaining tea would be distributed amongst the school's students who will return in the evening for self study as they prepare for their 'O's.

June bought a brain teaser from the pasar malam downstairs. Messing around with shapes and patterns should keep her occupied all night. The sales guy kept pushing the idea that solving the puzzles doesn't require much effort; only observation, analysis, working with possibilities and "understanding the question." This guy should come and teach GP with me.

Just received 2 consecutive phone calls:
Cat Auntie's out of a job again so we assured her we'll be going downstairs soon to supplement the strays' dinner. Mom called with info that my Grand-Uncle has passed away, wake to be held tomorrow evening, Friday evening and funeral Saturday morning. Grand-Uncle takes a wealth of Singapore's oral history with him. Hope his work with the National Heritage Board would have preserved some of his personal memories for us.

Off to feed cats now!

I can feel an MC coming on this week. It's only a question of what day will I be really too sick to function? The nose is drippy, the head just a little spinny and I'm falling asleep in the middle of consultations. Not a good sign.

Should have prepared my presentation for tomorrow afternoon over the weekend. Now that I should be resting I'm still getting my points together and I still have a bunch of slides to make too. Good thing I'm the first presenter. Hopefully I can sneak away after my spiel then go home for more shut-eye.

Thad is going to be my co-presenter, though I'm not quite sure I know what to do with him. I told him that he's just going to change my slides for me, but he really should be fielding questions during the Q&A with me. I know he's got some good ideas to share with the Cluster too. Hope I can convince him, or perhaps I shouldn't give him a choice? Heh, heh.

Edit 01:
Oh no! I just saw my updated presentation schedule. I've been bumped down right to the bottom. Last speaker. Boo!

Too many indulgences today. Too much junk food, too much staring at CRT and LCD screens all day, too much indolence and not actually getting anything constructive done. Wanted to prepare for my presentation on Tuesday, but couldn't get in the mood. No wonder I'm feeling sick right now. Think maybe I'll try sleep it off... at the next available opportunity.

The state of high drama in my household is over. Good thing neither I nor June are OTT performers, but as a result no one's going to make a movie of our lives. I guess we're not very entertaining to an audience.

Spent the morning at Border's with the current Drama Club advisors to plan possible storylines for our next production. Mel was early so we had time for a muffin and coffee before Yee and Cara finally arrived. Note to self: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's Cafe Vanilla is awfully sweet. Must ask for less sugar next time.

Yee was hungry so we adjourned to the Dome Cafe where we brunched and yakked over potential story elements. We've sort of got a rough set of ideas of the things we want to see in the story, but there's a lot of fleshing out to do. Another old classic (well, perhaps not as ancient as the "Odyssey") is about to get redone by the NYeDC, so after Halloween let's get cracking!

As I already had breakfast with June before meeting Mel for "second breakfast," I only ordered a Warm Portobello Salad at the Dome. I've always been curious about what the huge, flat, curcular fungus tasted like. I discovered that after cooking they aren't that huge after all. But they pack a substantial bite and are nice and juicy too. I didn't care much for the pine nuts and the beetroot that was in the salad so Cara took them over for me. The flavour of pine reminds me too much of my aunt's toilet cleaner.

Turned down Weng's offer of an outdoor movie at Fort Canning: a double bill of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "The Howling" in celebration of Halloween. Am having a quiet evening instead with wife, TV and pets.

June's back. It isn't quite the homecoming we both expected, though. I honestly thought that before she left we had ascertained that she wasn't expecting me to pick her up from the Airport on her return. So I didn't. Big mistake. Lost an opportunity to play the hero and go against expectations, and now I am a villain of Hussein proportions.

When this happens, the aggrieved party will do everything it can to remind the transgressor of the Great Sin at every opportunity. Conversations invariably find their way back to square one regardless of topic. When conversation inevitably dries up, there's always The Look, and strategy #46: talk aloud to the pets.

Why didn't I listen to Lynette who, being a woman, is qualified to understand female psychology and had advised me to go to the airport regardless? I complied instead with a "prearranged agreement," which apparently was nothing more than a figment of my imagination. Providence had provided me with one last chance to avoid the doghouse, but I still blew it anyway.

I have had almost a day to think over what had transpired between us and to ascertain my degree of wrongness. Legally speaking, as I did what was within the bounds of a verbal agreement (even if I was the only one who remembers it) I should not be held liable. However, if you asked me what I should have done out of love, then I have to admit that the loving thing to do was to have shown her that I couldn't wait for her to return and to have been there to greet her as soon as she strolled through customs with her luggage. A little self-sacrifice and inconvenience always goes a long way in making relationships work.

This is Fido, reporting 'live' from the doghouse. Woof...!

Stupid funny sized fonts in my previous entry. How do I fix 'em?

Anyway, got this Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire off Zhenlin's blog (Hi, Z, Halloween's coming!). Useful if you want to know what kind of learner you are and how to strategise your learning habits to match.

Stayed behind with the rest of the tutors taking year 1 classes next year for a sharing workshop on critical thinking and reasoning, an approach all subjects are supposed to be using to teach the college's 2005 batch. Doesn't sound like there's anything new to this idea, but perhaps today's course just showed that it can be formalized and structured such that it doesn't have to be an ad hoc, haphazard application but an actual discipline and technique for teaching.

Can't find an accurate link but here's a gist of what today's session hoped to convince us:

• "All subjects have a logic to them. Each is a system of meanings that enables us to reason effectively. Yet, most students try to learn not by reason, but by rote memorization. They blindly memorize someone else’s answers. Even when they do well on tests, it isn’t because they truly understand. True understanding requires disciplined reasoning.... Dr. Richard Paul focuses on how to break out of the didactic mode, [moving] into a new paradigm for instruction that explicitly fosters reasoned learning; learning that accesses the inner logic of all substantive inquiry. [Paul] offers a penetrating, in-depth look at ways to cultivate intellectually powerful minds... to help you put reason, accountability, and power back into teaching and learning."

(quoted from the blurb on Paul's How to Teach video series)

Actually, there's really nothing new in the content. We covered material that was basic common-sense thinking strategies that we use instinctively, although we, in our own time never actually sat through a course specific to such training. We sort of picked the skill up as we went as part of our maturing(?) process. Kids these days, I guess, are expected to grow up much faster. Still, such an approach could mean more interesting tutorials for both students and tutor, assuming both agree to play the same game. That, I think, is the hardest part.

The workshop went from 2-5pm. By then we were so bombed out we proceeded to Rosyth Road for prata, beef steak goreng (for me), and kopiccino ice, and some totally non-intellectual discussion. Next year's problems can take care of themselves next year.

Just a quick note to record for posterity that I made history today at the Grassroots Club. Bowled my personal worst pinfall: 76! Managed to salvage some pride in my 3rd and final game with 131. Vince, however, bowled his personal best: 188! *stands stunned, jaw hanging open, making little inarticulate noises, bbbbbb...

Check out what we were wearing today. Me in Phoenix red, Vince in Pegasus blue. Must be wearing the wrong colours, that's why the scores look inverted. *desperately clutches at last straws before drowning in quicksand.

My vacation is almost over. June comes home from BKK tomorrow. Guess that means no more late nights. Thank God. I could use the sleep.

Ironic that Creative and I-pod machines are increasing their storage capacities and a headline like this one "Home users face fines or jail for illegal downloads" pops up in the local papers today. Have to wonder, what is all that storage space going to be used for now? Why should people pay for something so expensive when they are going to be criminalized for the content they carry around in it?

Let's do some math. Creative's new Zen Micro at a modest 5Gb holds 2,500 songs at CD quality. If 1 CD contains about 12-14 songs, it should be able to hold about 208 CDs worth of music. At about $18 per CD, a Zen will cost about $3,750 to load up fully with legally purchased music. If we downloaded legally off Soundbuzz at $1.99 a song, that's even worse for our budget, an amount worth $4,975! Looking at the figures, most people (especially young people, "Mom, can I have $3,750 to buy music with, please?") will be priced out of the market.

Once, we used our music to "stick it to The Man," now The Man has gotten smart is looking for ways to stick it to us with His music instead. Folks, we gotta find a more equitable alternative -- forget technology; buy cheap, buy unlimited capacity: buy an FM radio. >sigh< Economics has set our society back by 20 years.

I'm looking at my DVD collection and just realised how much horror and violence I've acquired in their full digital majesty. Within arm's reach I could grab "Kill Bill" (both vols), "Van Helsing," "Blade II" and slightly further away a bunch of other schlocky horror flicks too. Such graphic detail. Screams, shots, singing steel, so lovingly detailed in a 3-D surround soundscape. Why else would we buy DVDs if not to experience all the special effects that go into an action-packed adventure? And then I wonder why I get nervous washing my hair in the shower. Go figure!

This collection must have grown out of the need to find an appealing and appropriate movie to screen on Halloween, and I have always insisted on DVD quality. Hmm... speaking of which, I wonder what we're doing to mark the season this year? I haven't heard that anyone has had any inspiration yet. Now, THAT's scary.

Oh, June bought me "School of Rock" too, and I haven't opened it yet! A musical comedy for a change. I guess that takes care of this evening!

And sidebar calendar's been updated, if that's of any use to you!

With all the excitement since Thursday, I haven't had the chance to note that I've been alone in the house over the past 3 nights. Well, there's Q-tip, Belle and Momo, but June's on vacation in Bangkok and I'm left here to hold the fort. She left me a small library of DVDs to keep me entertained while she's away, and I've been able to find company for the last few evenings. Tonight was quiet, though. Reloaded NFS:U and am now racing the night away until I'm too tired to continue.

There's nothing like being left to your own devices for a while, but it will get boring fast. Come home soon, June!

Settler's Cafe, where I spent Friday evening with the usual crowd (with the inclusion of Ed and Cheryl and Cara's 3 friends), is quite a cool concept. It's more like a games library where patrons may select a (non-gambling) card or board game to play at their tables while they eat.

These games are not necessarily the Parker Bros variety but other games that do not get that kind of marketing push. There are games with names like "Munchkin" and "Guillotine" which I've not heard of. We started with "Dragon Delta," a game of building bridges across a span of water in order for your token to get across to the other side. It has rules similar to the familiar team-building game of using "planks" to cross a river, but with more strategy as the player's objective is to be the first to complete the crossing. On request, a cafe staff member will sit at your table to explain the rules of an unfamiliar game.

Can't comment on the food as I didn't eat, but if you are ordering a float, you have to remind them you just want the ice-cream with your coke; and NO ice. Cara left early so I took her ice-cream which came with the set she ordered (there seems to be a pattern developing here). After eating we proceeded on to the EL Dept's favourite games, "Taboo" and "Pictionary," 'cos we were already too exhausted from the morning's Open House to learn any more new games with new rules.

Tonight I went to MJ's for dinner. MJ's a great host and she cooked up a storm of pasta for us: Gid, 'sif, Adam, Jas, Yee and me. It was a starter followed by 2 courses of pasta-mania. The starter was a lightly steamed spinach dish topped with an cream sauce made with thinly sliced champignons and scallops. This unusual combination worked because of the similarity in texture of the two ingredients. First course was a baked herb-based shrimp linguini, which had a nicely balanced flavour between the herbs and the shrimp. Second was an enormous platter of tomato-based seafood linguini heaped with mussels and what was probably shelled shrimp. Excellent meal, though MJ may have overestimated our capacity to eat. We were well stuffed already by the time dessert came round. Sliced mango, pomelo segments and Häagen-Dazs lychee ice-cream. Mmm... (though ice-cream was a bit sweet).

Nice meeting MJ's mom and sis too. Quite a well-behaved dinner, and quite a change from our usual style. Thanks, gal!

My worst fears were realized at the KTV contest this afternoon. I don't know where to put my face now. I tried my best to practice and rehearse my song over the last week or so, and I thought I had it down pat. I was fine yesterday, though Amy said I needed a more exciting delivery. Then this morning, as I ran it through my head again, I lost the tune! It kept coming out flat, and I knew it. Nerves, anxiety, whatever, and everyone else was turning in pretty good performances too. They sang in tune, inflected, presented with confidence and even when the KTV machine broke down from time to time, contestants could still sing acapella to quite an awesome degree.

I was the last contestant, and considering the acts I had to follow, I think I lost it on stage. My opening 2 lines came out flat, as I had been rehearsing all morning, wrongly of course, and even between verses, I kept pitching inconsistently sometimes high, sometimes low. I knew I had to do something drastic or the contest will end on a truly sour note. I couldn't do that to Jong Yann, could I? So I did what I said I wouldn't do. I played it for laughs. And, boy, did they laugh. I hope the J1s will remember me as the guy who made them laugh instead of the guy KTV'd worse than Bill Hung.

A memory I must exorcise. *resolves to do much better next time -- it won't be difficult.

Oh, you want results?
3rd place: Amy
2nd place: Chong Meng (math dept)
1st place: Cara!!!
(OK lah, Cara's voice is mellow and under control, the kind of voice people like to listen to while nursing a good cognac. Now she's got a trophy to display on her desk too).

Invited to Settler's Cafe tonight for coffee and boardgames. Stand by for review...

Edit 01:
There seems to be a slight discrepancy in audience size at the KTV contest. The day before, I failed to comprehend that the tutors will sing after all the student contestants have had their turn and not after the student audience had left. The whole of the JC1 cohort (or what was left of it) was present to witness my >ahem< performance.

We might be taking this KTV contest a bit too seriously now. This is the first time I've seen a contestant list for a Mandarin KTV contest, half of which is populated by the English Dept, including yours truly. Jong Yann's done a great job of recruiting a rather unusual mix of staff across departments, but as the big day is coming closer -- tomorrow, actually -- she's looking increasingly stressed out. What's Mandarin for, "Relax, girl!"?

We went in for a quick rehearsal this afternoon, then the bombshell dropped. We'll only be performing after the students have been dismissed. Hey, here we are about to embarrass ourselves in public with our nan2 ting1 accents, but noone's going to watch us do it? I can identify with the Player in Ros & Guil when the two disappeared in the middle of the Tragedians' performance. The regular person is going to be relieved, no doubt, that the pressure of performing in front of a 'live' audience is off, but the performer feels a bit let down.

Nvm. When it was my turn at the mike, I discovered to my horror that I had brought my Jewel case but left my disk at home. Mr Blur strikes again. So I mumbled off 4 lines of chorus acapella and that was about enough for me. Not satisfied with our rehearsal, Vince, Cara and I converged on Amy's to use her (parents') KTV machine. Amy kindly drove me home to grab my disk first, then we had a late lunch with Q-tip at the coffee-shop downstairs before heading back to her place.

Evening found me and June at Sky Captain ATWOT, a boy's comic book fantasy with giant robots, transformable technology, ray guns and sky and sea battles, all set in the period when comic books started to appear in the US. Everything, including the storyline, is campy and retro so expect improbabilties at every turn. The movie is designed with the same comic book style, well, maybe more like a graphic novel. Flat lighting makes the actors look 2 dimensional to match the CGI they perform in front of. The CGI looks like water-coloured backgrounds with slightly washed out colours and blurry edges. Beautiful visuals in spite of, or perhaps because of, the fact that most screen elements aren't 'real' to begin with.

The relationship between Captain and Polly is a complicated one. They are constantly bickering with and bitchin' at each other and they remind me of a non-couple I know who share a somewhat similar relationship. Heh.

We offically bade farewell to the Class of '04, whom I will remember with much fondness though I didn't exactly show this when we finally dismissed them this morning. I realise I may have made a mistake in not having a private venue for "famous last words" with them and what I wanted to say was instead lost in the perfunctory distribution of personal records and parting momentoes. Strange. Even my farewell address on behalf of the Arts faculty was a "safe," vague, over-general piece of waffle that masked the issues that I really wanted to address.

I know you read my entries online, but that's no excuse for not properly saying a personal "goodbye" to you exclusively as a CT. It's the coward's way out as there's nothing like hearing the spoken word in person to judge the veracity of that which is spoken. When I needed to, I failed to gather my thoughts and speak, too distracted with too many things going on, too overwhelmed with the end of things, too overawed by the new beginning of things, and numbed by it all. But even I have to get used to the fact that the Eagle's Nest is now suddenly empty, and a new breed of chicks are arriving in the spring.

The JC experience is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things. 2 years is the shortest length of time a student spends in any academic institution around here and as such JC really is a transient affair; only a preview of things yet to come. Yet because of the age at which you come under our charge, whatever you learn and whatever skills you acquire are going to have a major impact on whatever else you do with the rest of your lives. Like it or not, you were the elite of your 'O' level cohort and we hope you've survived your elite training even though you may not feel your eliteness right now, considering your final test is still just ahead.

In reality, we don't teach subjects -- we simply give you options. And we train you to see and make options for yourself. Thus, you should never be in a position in which you chose a course of action because you had "no choice." It's the most miserable of existences to live with "no choice" as an excuse for something stupid you might have done, and it's the biggest mistake anyone can make. Whatever happens in your lives from now, let it happen as a result of an option you exercised rather than be led around by the nose all the time. Make things happen, people.

Most importantly, maintain your friendships at all cost. They, above all, are what kept you sane through this surreal period of your lives, and they will see you through even more surreal periods of adult life ahead. We human beings are social creatures that thrive on cooperation in order to stay competitive in this big scary old world. I was telling the truth about being jealous that you share a special friendship with each other that I will never be a part of. Eighties, your social dynamic has always facinated me. There's a movie waiting to be made of your exploits in time to come, I'm pretty sure of it.

What do your teachers want of you? We know that at your level of academic training, it is entirely likely that in not too many years from now, we just might be addressing you as, "Sir," "M'am," "Your Honour," or perhaps even, "Your Excellency." It will be our proudest moment when we do, yet at the same time we hope that when you become a decision-maker at such a level, you'll make the right decisions for everyone (particularly us!). And even if you don't reach such a calibre, we want to be assured that you are at least able to make the right decisions for yourself as a socially mature, responsible adult.

Not too much to as for, is it?

The past 3 days' postings don't count. I feel like I've been on a long vacation and I'm a bit disoriented now that I'm back.

Indulged in spending more money on Watson over the weekend and reloading him with all the programs I am used to having at a finger's touch. Hopefully, his new hard drive will hold out longer than the old one, and with twice the capacity (80 gigs) I won't have to worry about having space for my games for a while.

Games. The Burb family is totally wiped out and I'll restart their soap opera again soon. NFS:U, gone and I'll have to rebuild my 'pearlescent' yellow Bengmobile again from scratch. Doom 3, what can I say? I'm feeling the effects of my age quite acutely. Doom 3 is gorgeous, but I confess I can't play for long owing to the motion sickness I quickly develop as I trudge through the framerates of Mars Base. If I ever want to get an MC, I'll just play for a couple of hours and I'm good to go. And it'll be a genuine illness too. Then while I'm chillin' out at home I can play more Doom 3 to pass the time and there we have a truly viscious cycle that'll go on ad nauseam, literally.

I'm avoiding my immediate task at hand -- preparing tomorrow's farewell address to our Seniors on behalf of the Arts Faculty. I'm supposed to work with Mark (sci-fac staff rep) so we don't talk at cross-purposes, but neither of us have had the time to meet even though we knew this was coming from a long way off already. We might have called our joint address the "Mark and Min(dy) Show" but I guess it wasn't to be.

When you feel you're performing to other people's expectations, that's when anxiety sets in and you're paralyzed. Too many people have told me how much they're looking forward to what I have to say, or that they expect me to liven up the proceedings, etc., etc., so now I'm at a complete loss as to what I really should say. For a 5 minute address. People want me to be funny, but I don't feel funny. It's a farewell: I'll be lucky just to hold it together and say something without dissolving into tears and embarassing myself in front of everyone. The truth is, I will miss the Class of '04, and that isn't helping my sense of humour one bit.

Sigh. Enough delay. Let's get back to work.

Up and running with a new hard drive, but Watson still seems unstable for some reason. Some programs run slowly and others, like Nero, won't run at all. But at least I can still make quick blog entries.

Bowling practice was hopeless today. There was only Anthony and me as everyone else was busy. Just as well, because we were only allowed a lane for an hour. The place was booked for the rest of the night. I hate time limits as they make me rush each delivery. The bowlers in the right lane next to ours had little sense of etiquette. They kept distracting us by taking their turns to bowl whenever they felt like it even though we might have had already lined up our shots and were ready to deliver. Simple rule: don't bowl when the bowler in either adjacent lane is aiming.

No inspiration + time pressure + rush + distractions = Lousy score (114, 139, 129). Bleeah!

Back online again, though I don't know for how long. I have a hunch it's my hard drive being driven too hard that's causing all this instability.

Seeing as there was an article in yesterday's papers about actress/model Eileen, I was going to write my own expose on when I met her in person, before she became famous, but it became impossible due to Watson's inexplicable behaviour. I still might if anyone's interested.

Hope to be blogging properly again real soon. Stand by...!

This is absolute crap!

Watson's gone all screwy again. Had to format C: and reinstall Win XP AGAIN! Something is causing this instability and now I think it's hardware. Now, how am I going to trace what the problem is?

Too angry to make a proper entry. For the record, I'm pissed!

Happy bdae to Jen (centre)! Jen's flanked by us on the right and her dad and someone we don't know on the left.

Celebrated Jen's birthday at Poison Ivy, the little restaurant outlet of Bollywood Veggies, an organic vegetable farm on Neo Tiew Road (where's that?). The restaurant is named after (who else?) Ivy, who together with her hubby own the farm. Ivy herself is quite famous personality in women's sport in Singapore.

As the farm produces organic vegetables, our dinner almost literally came from the back garden. The chili padi, bananas, brinjal (eggplant), ladies' fingers, to name a few greens were of course fresh, but my plebian palate couldn't distinguish between organic and inorganic(?) vegetables. Regardless, the buffet-style dishes were delicious especially the banana curry (bananas+grated coconut+cinnamon sticks), the eggplant curry and the tender lamb. Yes, LAMB, and no, it wasn't a vegetarian dinner. June pigged out on the wadai.

I don't usually like local desserts but the consistency and flavour of the tapioca cake, the kueh ko swee, and the banana cake impressed me. The kueh ko swee particularly, since grandma died and took her recipe with her.

If eating vegetables constitutes a healthy diet, then this place can be considered pretty healthy. That, the red wine and the quiet, rustic, away-from-it-all ambience, and air-conditioned comfort make this place a great afternoon hangout. Indeed, it's only open for lunch and tea from Thursday to Sunday only. Dinner tonight was possible due to special arrangement -- Jen booked the entire restaurant for her guests!

One problem is that the restaurant is so out of the way, it took 2 calls to 2 cab operators before we could book a taxi to take us home. If we are ever going up there again, we'll have to go with someone who's driving.

There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than at The Dubliner's. Fortunately, there we were for lunch, Anthony, Vince, Amy, me, and Cara joined us later, as usual. We were saying hello to an old friend, now retired from the education service. Ken used to teach GP with us and ran the Drama Club (then ELDDS). Just before the '03 batch came in, he decided it was time to move on and took his pension back home in Oz.

Today he's en route to Thailand mixing business with pleasure, no doubt, and he's stopped over for a couple of days to catch up with his mates here in Singapore. He's going to KTV the night away with them, then be on his way tomorrow. Ah... yes, the life of globetrotting luxury. Well, he's paid his dues and he's entitled. More power to you, Ken!

It was such an enjoyable afternoon under the trees, slowly demolishing a beer-battered fish and chips, and discussing Ozzie politics and journalism (inspired by Amy) with a pundit. It was so enjoyable, I decided to dump my afternoon tasks and get them done some other time (priorities, you understand). Now I'll have to work on Saturday, so much for prevailing personal policy, but the tasks are important and need to be done before next week.

Dubliner's is as generous with its portions as ever. Usually, fish 'n chips comes with a wedge of lemon, but we got half a lemon each. Plenty of hot, crispy-outside-fluffy-inside fries and 2 large strips of beautiful, smooth, white cod in batter. But when Vince's shoulder of pork arrived, my jaw dropped and my fish dish suddenly paled in comparison. To think Amy and I agreed that we were feeling carnivorous today but in a moment of folly ordered fish instead. Vince's 'pork shoulder' was 2 awe-inspiring chunks of pig meat, and oh, the thickness of dripping pig fat, and the crispy, crackling pig skin topping it off. Instant jealousy, I tell you. Also possibly instant cardiac arrest if I tried to swallow that lot down, so perhaps it was for the best that it stayed out of my reach.

Instant noodles for dinner. What a show-stopper.

I want to kill the sidebar calendar for one reason. It's ugly. But for now it's serving a purpose, so I'll spare it. I thought that around this time things would be winding down towards the year-end hols, but what we are now reducing in curriculum time, we are making up for it by having "sharing sessions" and "seminars" at cluster level and beyond. This morning I received news that I was selected to give a short presentation at the Cluster "Blue Sky" Carnival in which various schools in our cluster will share things that they have done that could illustrate what "teach less, learn more" (the Ministry's new buzzword) means.

To be selected is an honour, I suppose, and the presentation is only for a quarter hour slot, so not much of a demand for my blood, sweat and tears. But I wonder what you guys think about my sharing the "I&E" assignment you worked on in the 2 I&E days early this year? Considering I had so much to learn from the number of problems that surfaced during the actual execution of the assignment, would I dare present it and claim it was a success? At best, I can honestly say it was a well-intentioned exercise that had a lot of bugs in it. If there was any learning to be gained from it, I guess I got the lion's share. Hee hee.

So that's one more thing added on my to-do list. There's also the annual NE-coordinators' meeting and there are some interesting things on the agenda... but I won't mention anything more until I've heard more.

Turned down an invitation to bowl at the Grassroots Club. Legs are still aching from Monday's practice, so not wise to aggravate them further. Spirit willing, flesh weak. What can I say?

Unofficial tutorial sessions are the most enjoyable for me. Small group, everyone paying attention, me being asked questions and responding to each individual's specific concerns and tailoring material on the fly to cater to different students' particular needs. Helps also that they are really scared, and I do sympathize with them. Potential 'A' grades in pretty much every subject, but royally screwing up in GP. That's frustrating, but easily explained. Any idiot can study and score 'A's (er... once again, no offense meant), but with GP you can't study something and expect to pass because of the effort spent therein.

Instead, the students' task is to use the content they have already and shape it into the answers they have been asked for. It's like being given plasticine in kindergarten. Kids love plasticine. They squish it, roll it, mould it, sculpt it, and make a complete mess out of it. They love the way it feels in their fingers and how it smears on their faces. They love the control they have over the malleable mass. And when they're done, they have something of their own which they have created and the original lump or slab is no longer recognizable. Sometimes even the original colour has been mixed up with some other hue and the whole thing looks like sh*t. But it doesn't matter. Regardless of what it looks like, the teacher will say things like, "nice dinosaur, Kevin," or, "that's a handy club, Ah Seng, now please stop hitting Amy with it."

No kid is going to preserve his or her share of the plasticine in its shrink wrap and not take it out to play with it. No kid is going to protect its pristine condition and return it to the teacher when it's milk and cookies time because the teacher is most likely to diagnose the kid with some kind of developmental problem. Yet, when they go to JC, the same kids who used to have such fun now work like mad to preserve their content and to return the exact same content to their tutors; then they wonder why they are doing so badly. That's the kind of toil they engage in (or think they are supposed to engage in) and they wonder why they're not having any fun with GP at 18 years old. Where do our youth get their strange ideas from?

Was busy handing out plasticine to various kids today. Will continue to do so over the next couple of weeks. There's plenty to go around.

Tutorials may be over but the pressure's still on. Students are booking free-for-all consultations with their respective tutors around their scheduled lecture slots; so just to make things easy, I'll put this blog's calendar (see sidebar) to good use once again to indicate times that have already been booked with me. I'll take bookings on a 1st come 1st served basis. For the moment, I'm relatively free so I can be flexible and the best time slots are still open to negotiation.

Started working with Cara on our testimonial comments for the Drama Club seniors. Hope to finish by tomorrow so their respective Civics Tutors will have something to say about their CCA involvement. Have yet to work with Mark on our farewell tribute to the Class of '04 in next week's Graduation Ceremony and there's my own CTs testimonials to compose. Devise a simple mime demo for Connie and her sharing session in Nov. Erm.. couple of other things as well before next week too. Guess I'm just reminding myself while everything's still fresh in my memory or I will forget one thing or another and lots of people will want to kill me over it.

Had to destress, so we went back to bowl at SAFRA this evening. Amy showed up and did fairly well for a beginner, but Anthony was way off his game. A few months off-practice and rust sets in bad. Good thing we're starting our training early for next year, eh? My game was quite satisfactory: 151, 116 (there's always 1 off game), and 147. Let's just keep that up, shall we?

Edit 01:
Has anyone noticed that Blogger is really slow in updating our Profiles? Or did I do something wrong?

Popped Quill into the VCD and I have to say that this narrative is the most devoid of conflict I have ever come across. Quill is the most ordinary dog ever and his biography is so bland, it's beautiful.

Quill's name comes from a dictionary entry as his first trainers name their dogs in alphabetical order as they arrive for training. In advanced training, his instructors notice that he has no particular talents and from time to time they comment on his ordinariness which eventually becomes his most outstanding feature. There is nothing in the story that indicates his rising above this label. His most significant contribution is that he worked as a seeing-eye dog for a feisty chairman of a society for the disabled and a champion for disabled people's rights . Quill's job doesn't even last very long, though it's no one's fault except, perhaps, circumstance. He leads a long and relatively useful and happy life until he returns to his first trainers' house to live out his final year.

There. He was born, he was educated, he worked, he made some friends, he made some people happy, he lived to a ripe old age and then he died. This plotline breaks every convention of how a story should be constructed. The cardinal sin -- no conflict. Yet in so many scenes, my eyes just could not stay dry. It is in how much he was loved, how much people depended on him and how committed he was in doing what was needed of him that is the heart of the story. Though the camera's focus is on Quill, the perspective is from the many people who have to say, "goodbye," to him as he moves from one development phase to another. That is the really sad part, the part where the tears freely flow; it's in the letting go, no, make that the letting grow.

Quill's life is the sort of life we all desire; without all the distracting frills that we want added on to complicate things for us. Quill's life is A Very Good Life. We should be so lucky.