A complete change of weather, and what a scorcher! It was a beautiful day for Dreamworld. The sun was out and we finally felt the heat that makes Surfers' paradise.

We started the day badly with transport woes. Only 1 public bus to Dreamworld and thought is is very cheap -- $6 per pax return -- it is also infrequent and consequently by the time it reaches the bus stop at our end it's already too full to accept any more passengers.

After an hour of fruitless waiting, we hailed a cab. It cost us $25 but it got us there in good time; within 20 minutes of opening at 1000hrs.

We made a bee-line for the theme park's main attraction. From afar, the 1st thing we saw of Dreamworld was this great phallic symbol pointing skywards. This is the pillar that is central to the 2 most thrilling rides in the park. The Big Drop took us right to the top of the 110m tower and suspended us there for about a minute while we admired the parking lot, or contemplated our fate. Then without warning, the platform plunged into free-fall for a few seconds, making us feel like we left our insides at the top, before the brakes caught.

Next up, the Tower of Terror. The ride seats 24 of us in a car on rails. With a hiss and a bang the car rockets up the same tower vertically, then plunges us back again BACKWARDS. This is supposed to be the fastest and tallest drop for a theme park ride, but really the anticipation is much worse than the actual experience. It just happens too quickly for us to register the terror we should be feeling and then it's already over.

We took a short break on the Runaway Reptar Rollercoaster, which is thematically based on Nick Studio's Rugrats. It's a suspended steel coaster with lots of twists and turns, though on the whole, it was actually quite a mild ride.

Lunch at the CatDog Snack Shack eating (what else?) hotdogs. We're used to cats waiting at tables for scraps, but here stray heron with nasty, long, sharp, curved beaks stalked around looking for windfalls of abandoned food.

The big coaster, The Cyclone, was another steel monster with a double loop. Standard stuff, though compared to what we tried next.

Wipeout is a ride that though remains stationary, spun us around high up in the air, inverted us and swung us headfirst towards the ground a number of times. And just when we though it was over, it sprung it's nastiest surprise. Exhilarating.

The Claw -- a rotary swing is the source of another set of screams. The big swing and the rotating platform sends us up in the air to almost a full inversion, spinning us simultaneously so we either looked at the clouds or at the concrete tarmac before being swung back again with velocity. Crazy!

After this, June too a nap on my shoulder then on my lap. It was so hot we guzzled 3 600ml bottles of Mount Franklin spring water and some Coke too.

Refreshed, we sought out the last thrill -- the Eureka Mountain Mine Ride. It was dark, enclosed with one or two sights to spook, lots of abrupt turns, but again another mild ride.

We said hello to koala, Beltana, and got our pix taken with her. Took a photo with a Spongebob Squarepants statue, rode Wipeout once more, then it was time to go. Park closes at 1700hrs.

We were lucky enough to catch the public bus back and met Dawn and parents (from church)aboard. Small world.

Shopped the early evening away at downtown Surfers', KFC for dinner, then home for an early night. We need it for the early start tomorrow morning.

The late departure from Changi meant that Dreamworld was not possible this morning and will be postponed to early tomorrow instead.

We arrived in Brisbane at about 1100hrs and caught a 90 minute train ride to Narang where our limo driver collected us and our luggage and deposited us at our hotel, the Australis Sovereign. We will be staying here for the next couple of nights.

The hotel is quite a friendly place, not too formal but it looks and feels new and comfortable. It is quite a walk from the main action happening at Surfers' Paradise, but the walk is pleasant and, I suppose, healthy.

The problem is, as usual, we bring the rain. We've got our windbreakers on, hoods up, walking around Surfers' in summer. Most everyone else here is walking around heedless of the wet weather, but we are nicely bundled up, quite the anomaly, though people are too polite to mention it in our presence.

We stopped for lunch at La Porchetta, an Italian chain restaurant, for a small meat lovers' pizza with extra mushroom topping. Thin crust, plenty of meat including bits of lamb, and fresh mozza. Lovely.

In the afternoon, we hit the malls searching for the Hard Rock Cafe. HRC stuff is quite horribly expensive so we didn't buy anything, though we wanted to get a t-shirt for sis-in-law's collection.

There is supposed to be a night market along the beach every Friday night but the poor weather must have washed it out. The beach is deserted today -- not even the hardcore surfer dudes are out -- so no point opening for business, much to June's disappointment.

Returned to the hotel with my left sandal busted up at the same place I had it stiched up last time. Bah. Need to get new sandals now.

Hope Aussie TV isn't as boring as American. Hopefully, Dreamworld tomorrow!

Check it out! It's almost 9pm and I'm still here -- at home! I should have been at the airport 2 hours ago, but my flight's been delayed. QF52 is supposed to depart 2110, now estimated 0100. This effectively loses us half a day in Brisbane tomorrow, but I guess this also means we don't have to rush any more.

Ok, calm down. Everything's ready to go, everything's packed, everything's prepared for the pets to survive 2 weeks without us. Thanks to Dad-in-law who'll be pet sitting everyday until we come back. Just breathe easy, and enjoy the trip.

Relax. We're on VACATION!

Still holed up at home nursing my head cold. The weather has turned chilly and that's not helping. Hope the sun and heat down-under will clear my head or it's going to be one heck of a trip.

While I was at home, the Diamond water filter guy dropped by to repo the filter system we ordered on trial. It's a mid-size plastic box that sits on the kitchen counter connecting the water supply with the tap. The water that comes through the filter is supposed to be cleaner and healthier somehow than normal PUB water, and it was convenient to just fill up our drinking water bottles without having to boil the water first. After 2 weeks of trial though, it didn't really make much difference to our lives and so to remove one more piece of clutter from our kitchen we decided to discontinue the service. We're not likely to be using it over the next couple of weeks anyway.

Other things keeping me occupied today are NFS:UG2 (completed, all parts and rewards unlocked), Neopets (advent calendar is giving out free stuff, in case you've forgotten), Rave: Groove Adventure on AXN (a major soap opera of an anime involving more talk and backstory exposition than action, and a pretty girl-with-a-forgotten-past), and The Amazing Race also on AXN. So much media. Can feel my social life petrifying as I blog.

Cargo bag stands ready to be filled with our stuff. Clothing, electronics, stuff that friends in Sydney have requested us to get for them, toileteries; hope I can squeeze all this stuff in and still travel light. Amongst the clothing will be my new Nautica windbreaker, a Christmas present from sis-in-law. It's a convertible jacket that can double as a parka when you wear it with it's inner lining. It even has a compass on a 'bina attached to the zip. Cool!

I'll try to make one more entry tomorrow before leaving for the airport. After that, who knows? Else, see y'all in 2 weeks!

Lousy start to the week with nasal congestion, ear blockage and sore throat. Been feeling this way since last Friday, though I haven't yet been totally incapacitated. Didn't want to think about it before but I hope it clears up before I leave for Oz on Thursday.

Still managed to get myself and June to the D&D last night. Everyone was polished and well-groomed, in a way that I've never seen before in NY students. Scruffy ol' me took the trouble to shop for a blazer for myself, and a gown for my date. I even used what was left in June's ancient jar of hair gel, though I panicked a bit when I applied it to my head and my hands got stuck to my hair like they were glued on. That jar was way past its expiry date and had dried into paste. Fortunately it obliged to wash off with a liberal amout of water and I didn't dare use any more.

My table was an all-girl table, with me the odd exception. Usually in these situations, I would feel like the rose among the thorns, but last night it felt quite the opposite. Kareen, Mindy, Farisa, Mei, Pris, 'nette, Yan, Rach, and June were all beautifully decked out, leaving me feeling a bit ah pek compared to them. Old insecurities arose, those I thought I'd long since buried. I can't show how gorgeous they were 'cos my camera suddenly turned shy and stayed in its pouch all night (er... no, that's not a euphemism for anything). Their hair and faces were sparkling and shimmery, their material flowed and curved around them, their cosmetic makeovers made them hard to recognise as the schoolgirls I used to teach, and indeed, I had to look at a few of them before I could recognise who they were. I was probably the oldest man in the hall (apart from the P, who isn't a man) and I felt my age. Sigh.

The food... well, who was really paying attenion to the food? The MC kept the attention on the stage with his silly games and low-brow humour. The choice of Prom King and Queen was um... expedient and arbitrary to say the least. Wonder when it became compulsory for D&Ds to insist on hiring game-show hosts to liven up the proceedings? Perhaps on occasions when guests aren't likely to know each other that's when MCs come in useful, but here when we are more likely to have fun entertaining ourselves he was just distracting.

Veritas=Truth:
Left as soon as dinner was over. I guess a combination of factors made me opt for an early exit. Physical infirmity, chronological disparity, social incongruity, whatever. I should have toughed it out and stayed longer; been more thick-skinned and inserted myself into more group photos; and whipped out my cam at every inappropriate opportunity; that would have made the event more memorable, but I didn't. Overwhelmed, I raised the white flag, committed social suicide and headed for the safety of home. Now I'm sorry I missed the post-dinner festivities.

This weekend was like a training session for our upcoming Aussie adventure. Our mall walking took us to PS (at last), then on the MRT to Chinatown, then back on the MRT going west-north to Causeway Point where we finally picked up some supplies and a Christmas essential, our turkey.

How is all this relevant to Aussie? It's what we intend to do once we get to Sydney. Hop on board public transport and hoof it all over town, seeing everything possible. We have to build our walking stamina back up, seeing as how lazy we've gotten over the last few years. Long past are the days when we walked from Tanglin road to Suntec City and back to Scotts Road just for the fun of it. We did this quite a few times a week too because it was the only way we could spend time together alone back then. Now, we just go straight home from wherever we are and we're already alone together. Pets don't count.

Anyway, we got almost everything we wanted from our shopping list except for the kitty litter deodorant and the vacuum cleaner hose to replace our current one which has sprung a leak. We did get our turkey -- a 4.45kg li'l fella -- who's going to be chilling out in our freezer till we come back from our vacation. Also saw some new Rollerblade models which are now about a third to half the price of when they first came out. In-lines are back on my wish list. Now if only I had somewhere to use them...

We leave in a couple of days. Better start packin'.

Went shopping again on Orchard Road. This time we hit Scotts, Tangs, Lucky Plaza, The Heeren, Centrepoint and Cineleisure. Although our main objective was to walk down from Orchard MRT to PS, we never made it. There was just too much to look at between Orchard and Somerset to move any further than that.

Lunched at the Island Cafe on the top floor of Tangs. Very good local food at premium prices. Used to be, the place was just a self-service cafeteria where I would sometimes go for a reasonably priced lunch when I worked around the area back then. These days, it's been upgraded. Now, we have to 'wait to be seated' and we have a menu rather than a chalkboard to make our selections from. Wait staff are polite and top up our glasses with ice-cold water. Good eating places always ensure the water they serve is kept well-chilled.

I ordered a chicken bryani and it came with chicken curry on the side. Mmmm... tender boneless chicken in a spicy dry curry. June's Indonesian Fried Rice was a very generous mountain of rice fried in lots of shallots and some other spices I couldn't identify, but the flavour was just gorgeous. Accompanying the rice were 2 sticks of chicken satay, some chicken curry (same as mine), a handful of fried egg strips and another handful of keropok (prawn crackers). There was so much on June's plate, even I couldn't help her finish everything, and that's quite saying something. It was quite an expensive meal, considering the same dishes are usually a fraction of the price we paid, but then this meal was a level above the usual.

Major annoyance occurred when we were at the Heeren. When we took the escalator down from 3rd to 2nd floor we heard a dull thud, like someone had dropped something solid on the floor. We didn't bother to turn around and look but 5 seconds later we found out exactly what had fallen. From behind, a girl's voice made an apologetic exclamation just before something cold and very wet hit me on the shoulder soaking my right sleeve. The same wet substance splashed into June's sandal as well, though fortunately it had missed the shopping bag June was carrying.

The bimbo behind us had dropped a bottle of Coke then picked it up and immediately opened the bottle top. Of course the pressurized contents just shot forward and hit us who were standing right in front of her. We tried to wash the mess off us to the best of our ability, but we still spent the rest of the afternoon, June with a sticky foot and as for me, somehow the Coke residue on my sleeve reacted with I don't know what -- my sweat maybe -- and it stank like improperly dried laundry. Blecch.

We stayed out like that till about early evening. Nothing stops us from our Christmas window shopping, eh?

The first time I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show was at a Halloween festival at York U. I'd heard it was a cult favourite though I didn't know why and I wanted to find out. I was in the midst of an audience, most of whom came wearing quite outrageous costumes. I thought they had dressed up for Halloween. Certain members of audience became quite unruly as soon as the movie started. They were chatting, some even shouting and making fun of the characters and situations on screen. I got annoyed when (uncooked) rice fell on my head at the opening wedding sequence. Rice-wedding, geddit? I got it. I realised that it wasn't just a few blokes trying to spoil the show, rather it was EVERYBODY who was part of the show.

The movie itself was a no-brainer, but people keep going back to watch it again and again because it is the experience of audience participation, the crazy atmosphere and the chance to do what is usually frowned upon because it breaks every rule of audience etiquette in the book. Just as there are lines on particular cues that everyone knows and everyone shouts out simultaneously there are also moments when individuals improvise lines and they can be hilarious as well, and we try to remember to include what we had heard into our 'script' for our next screening.

Many of the themes in the movie, and what got added on later by the audience, fell under our censors' scissors in the past: sexual conflict (homo vs hetero, not guy vs girl) being one of them. Recently the censors allowed it to be shown as an outdoor event during the Halloween period, but the audience here hasn't a clue as to how the movie is to be enjoyed. When I was in Hono last year I picked up the movie on DVD as it is impossible to obtain here in Singapore (thanks to the ban that ceased to be of relevance many years ago).

I finally put the DVD to use last night at Weng's place. He had invited a few guests over for our first screening, though we really could have used a much bigger crowd. Luanne was there, of course, Chang Wei and Celine too. And it was nice to see Debbie and Eugene again, students I had taught from a couple of years back.

Weng had set up an outdoor cinema of sorts using his garage wall as a screen. He provided the hot dogs and drinks, June and I provided egg salad sandwiches and a few crunchies. Only me, Weng, and someone else in the back (Chang Wei?) were calling out most of the time, the rest of the crowd, newbies, only contributing the obligatory, "asshole," "slut," "this man has no neck" responses whenever these characters appeared or mentioned their names, and tossing the various props that Weng had provided us with on cue.

It was a fun evening. We even pursuaded Weng to show us the short film he shot a couple of weeks back. He had asked me to be in it, but I was so busy with invig at the time I couldn't fit the schedule. Anthony took my place instead, his film debut -- oh, and Celine's too. Bad crowd to show his film to though, 'cos we were still in the spirit of RHPS. We heckled it as well, turning his 'serious' drama into an unintended comedy.

Looking forward to the next screening when we have a few less RHPS 'virgins' who can create a bigger disturbance and create a better atmosphere for the next set of newbies to join us. How 'bout it, guys?

Must be the week to view over-reachers and world conquerors. Last Friday it was Cheng Ho, today, Alexander. Where Troy was Hollywood fluff, Alexander is a textbook, and doesn't pretend to be anything else. This movie is from the perspective of one of Alexander's old surviving Generals as he dictates his memoirs of Alexander's great exploits to an eager, wide-eyed scribe.

Pretty much everything we know about ATG, director, Stone, faithfully retells in this 2+ hour long epic. How ATG gets his horse, how ATG takes his comparatively small army to take on and defeat the nasty Persians, how his ambitions take him to India and would have taken him to conquer western Europe, had he not died at an early age. There is suspicion of poisoning as a cause of his death, but Stone, as in history, does not point an accusing finger at any one particular entity.

There is political intrigue and more than a hint of ATG's bisexual tendencies, though this is not surprising considering the time he lived in. Battle scenes are thoroughly messy. Blocks and blocks of formations clashing in a dust-obscured orgy of violence from the bird's eye view, and numerous quick cuts of personal and intimate violence from the combatant's perspective.

Always gets me wondering whenever I see scenes of close-quarters melee combat: why do men drive themselves into the midst of such utter madness, where life and limb are almost guaranteed lost? It's part of our nature, I guess, since we haven't learned anything from past battles fought long ago. It's still happening today in many parts of the world, and it's still a part of our growing -up ritual as well -- our boys being conscripted into the army for 2 years' National Service.

The timing of this movie could be Stone's warning to the US regarding it's expedition in Iraq. ATG marched into Babylon to a great welcome after having defeated Darius in battle. The US likewise expected a great welcome in Baghdad after defeating Hussein, but it wasn't to be. The narrator, Ptolemy, caustically remarks that entering Babylon was a far easier exercise than exiting it. The US finds itself in the same position today. Since Babylon=Iraq geographically, the parallel can be no coincidence. (Late edit: Stone himself says it was a coincidence).

To those of us who already know the history of ATG, the movie puts a grand picture to the text we know by heart. But those who haven't a clue as to who or what ATG is, the movie can be pretty dry and tedious to sit through. Perhaps the presence of "pretty" boys (to quote from ill-fated Clitus' spiteful observation) who litter the cast might add some interest to this movie, since the babe factor seems to be missing save for maybe Angelina Jolie who plays ATG's mom. How ineligible.

One interesting side note. According to a Discovery Channel programme I watched a week or so ago, a former Scotland Yard head and a team of forensic scientists have recently discredited both theories that ATG may have died of disease and that he may have been poisoned by shady elements within his royal court. They looked at his symptoms before his death and matched them with those caused by a toxin found in a root of a plant common in Macedonia. This root was used as a remedy for depression at the time, and it is well known that ATG was majorly bummed at the death of his best friend (some say lover), Hephaistion. The truth of ATG's death may simply be that he overdosed on this root, basically killing himself because of bad medical practice. Not very romantic nor heroic.

Odd to see this quotation so soon after I mentioned in my entry from a few days ago: "Fortune favours the bold," Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC).

So, we've got our first Idol in the 'fik. Between the 2, he is the better choice to represent us on the world stage whereas Sly still needs a lot more polishing before he can match up. Strangely enough, I had always thought it would be an all girl final, seeing as talent-wise the girls seemed to have more presence and musical ability than the boys. Guess they just couldn't pull in the votes.

I have to compare the Idol series with the 'Talentimes' of years ago. With Idol, there is a marked difference from the time of the contestants first raw debut to the time the winner gets chosen. There is an effort to mould the contestants' image, up their entertainment value, build their fan base and develop their sense of professionalism in the business. Not bad for 6 months' work for them who used to be ordinary Joes n' Janes.

The Talentimes of old didn't bother with grooming the talents to this level. What you saw on their first appearance was usually what you got at the finals. Winning depended on the judges' final decisions, and thus there were fewer surprises and less drama in these old formats.

The Idol concept is certainly a lot more entertaining, particularly since there is greater emphasis on the relationships that develop amongst the contestants. Here there is the possibility of fleshing out the contestants' backstories, their comradeship (no bitter squabbles featured in this season's Idol, but perhaps next season?) and the idea that it's a friendly rivalry -- only one will win, but everyone must pull together and work together in order for everyone to have their chance of being the last man (or woman) standing.

Central controlling figures, the judges, only have the power to be critical but the power of selection is in the hands of the people. Likewise, the responsibility of choosing well is also the peoples'.

Funny how a TV programme can reflect our current political situation, and quite possibly the direction education is going to go from now on. Greater emphasis on individual responsibility, less decision-making by a central authority. I don't know how well this is going to work out in practice, but in theory it sounds good. Everything now depends on how wisely we choose from ever growing options, and how we act upon our choices.

Right. Enough rambling for one night. Go to bed, old-timer!

Went to Orchard Road to do some shopping. Wandered around Far East Plaza, Scotts, Isetan (Shaw House), and Wisma Atria. Looked at clothes. Lots of clothes. Actually bought some clothes. Women have lots of different types of clothes to choose from for different occasions. Lots of colours to mix and match. Why are men's clothes so boring?

Another evening of scaring kids with bad acting. Tonight's group of night walkers seemed even more serious and task oriented than Sunday night's. We started the night walk earlier, but we still ended about the same time. Things went quite quickly at my station, but perhaps I crippled too many heavy people so groups had to struggle to get to "Rivendell" for "healing" and had to take many rest stops along the way. They were slow. But good news was that there was no rain though the sky did threaten a little in the early evening. No rain means no mud and my boots were spared.

On the way out of camp, we had to stop the car to allow a large python to cross the driveway before we proceeded towards supper. The driveway is looooong and the python was quite a distance from our campsite but JY called camp to alert them on this latest sighting of local fauna anyway. From what I could see, since Amy's headlights were not shining directly on it, the snake's body extended to about half the width of the driveway and the head had already passed into the bushes on the left and couldn't be seen. Kinda' makes me wonder who else was with me while I was hiding behind my tree at my station during the night walk. Brr...

Supper was at Punggol Nasi Lemak near Hougang. It was already about midnight when we arrived. For $5 I got 2 chicken wings (one was for Vince), a fried egg (over-easy), a generous piece of otah, and a sprinkling of kacang/ikan bilis. Apart from the spoonful of nasi I accidentally dropped on my crotch, the meal was quite enjoyable. The food was tasty, and it was an alternative to 24hr prata. 2 nights in a row? No thanks.

Wow. Came home after midnight again. LTC duty was more fun than I thought. Started with going to Beach Road to pick up camo paints for some of the night walk characters manning the event stations along the way.

The Army surplus stores on Beach Road are great places to get outdoorsy equipment and cool militant fashion accessories. NS men resupply their disposable items here, get their tailoring done, and get non-standard items that look great though not necessarily field-approved.

The shopkeepers here reflect a savvy approach to total retail. Alongside the gung-ho looking shops draped to the max with field equipment and military apparel there are other shops selling female footwear, hair accessories, women's clothing, and if I'm not wrong, even ladies' headgear. This incongruity is puzzling at first, then I realized that guys in the market for army stuff tend to bring their girlfriends (and wives) with them. The women in tow are another potential market to exploit, so why not?

Me, June, JY and HP squeezed in Amy's car to get to MOE's Bhatera Campsite. For a campsite it's quite a nice facility. Cool-looking open-air stilted longhouse concept housing about 10-12 occupants each. Apart from having to sleep on mats on a hardwood floor (which actually isn't so bad) the place is quite comfortable. Our crew were not overnight stayers, though.

Our job was to role-play scenes from LOTR at certain designated stop-points during the night walk. Amy, Victor, Lena and I were at the first station and it fell to us to set the story for the night walkers to get involved in. Amy, the storyteller, narrated the history of the Ring. Frodo, played by Lena, appeared on the scene chased by an umm... orc(?) played by Victor. Victor had taped strips of garbage bag to the poncho he wore and with his face in camo paint he looked like a half-hearted sniper. But with his bent-over, shuffling gait he looked evilly animal-like in the moonlight.

I had the fun job. I was Strider coming to Frodo's rescue. Initially, the idea was to engage the orc with a flaming torch, but whoever prepared the torch was overenthusiastic with the cloth wrap and the amount of kerosene soaked into it. On a test lighting, the torch quickly became a raging inferno in my hand. Burning out of control (the torch, not me) I had to drop it and it took an entire bucket of sand to put out the flames. I had to settle for a stick with 2 glow-sticks taped to the end. The flames would have been dramatic, but we weren't prepared for an orc barbeque last night.

I also had to select a few of the night walkers to continue the walk simulating walking or visual disabilities. It took the night walkers some time for their imaginations to kick in. They had to discuss what they needed to do to get to the next station with their handicaps. I could tell what was in their minds was 'let's get this over with,' rather than 'oh, a game! Let's play!' Sad thing about our young these days: they tend to get serious over the wrong issues. Sigh. I guess it's the way we train them from young. Instead of the healthy immediately rendering assistance to the needy, they have a discussion over the rules of the game, job descriptions, task allocations, and the committee can't make a decision to save their lives. In this game, as in life, the fun actually lies in 3 little words: Just Do It! Thank you, Nike.

Other stations involved John and Thad squatting half-naked by a puddle playing Gollum's 2 personalities and getting bitten by ants and struggling to maintain character despite the discomfort. JY, HP and alumnus, Natty, were elves, faces painted with the glitter cube stuff June bought from the Body Shop in the afternoon. Other alumni played the roles of Shelob and Sam, and Gurmit was, of course, a convincing Gandalf thanks to his convincing beard.

2 cars drove out for supper after the debrief. Same company in Amy's car; Jeeves and guest, JJ, in Vince's. We descended on The Prata House, Thomson, where JY got the cheese prata she'd been craving all afternoon. June and I had a plaster and a kosong each and split a milo dinosaur. Considering that the rain was so terrible in the afternoon that it looked like waves crashing over the railing into our balcony and our staircase became an impressive waterfall into our void deck, prata made a nice end to a muddy, squelchy, slippery night walk.

5 groups to entertain last night, another 5 tonight.

Looks like I was closer to the end of HL2 than I thought. A couple more brief firefights, a series of jumping puzzles and one final destroy-everything-in-sight mission and its all over, until Part 3 comes along, that is. Everything comes to an abrupt halt and a promise is delivered for the next installment. And Lamarr makes a final appearance at the end of the credit roll. Perhaps Easy mode is too easy, but I finished the story and for me that's what counts. Now to restart on a higher difficulty level for a tougher challenge.

Went shopping for prom outfit, or at least have a look at what's trendy these days. Shirts are looking more colourful and the materials are softer and more textured than the rough 'n ready cotton/synthetic I'm used to. It seems the cross-shoulder bag is also very common as most of the shop-window dummies sport this particular accessory. I'm at a loss as to what to wear. I don't want to wear the same old boring thing, yet getting clothes that might require a further makeover to carry off credibly isn't a viable option either. Time to source for options. So far the guys have kept mum on their prom outfits, so don't be shy any longer. Advise please.

Caught Furthest North Deepest South this evening. A different take on the travels of Admiral Cheng Ho and the problems he might have had with his credibility as a military leader, being only a eunuch to an upstart emperor. The enormous expedition Cheng Ho is said to have led must have drained China of much of its resources and the treasures he brought back simply could not compensate for the staggering financial loss incurred.

The production fused mime movement with puppetry and spoken dialogue. With the creative use of life-sized puppets, 3 performers multiplied themselves into 7 characters that worked together as a chorus of Mandarins (scholar advisors to the Emperor). The use of wheeled benches of different heights and a couple of models of masts with sails could be configured to look like a flotilla of ships, 1 large ship, and a bunch of ships being tossed around and lost in a stormy sea.

Faz, our Drama Club president, was in the cast as an apprentice mime and puppeteer and Artistic Director, Tina, said some very good things about his involvement in the production. YT also commented that he was a good find and that it was good to have him on board. This is encouraging, and this could mean that the other club members will also get opportunities to join in other productions, getting in on the ground floor in the realm of stagecraft and theatre. Look forward to it!

Ok, 1 thing at a time. First, HL2.

Fortune favours the bold. A hole to hide in is fine, but there's no further progress unless you're ready to take some flak and explore the next immediate area. It's an urban war zone, door-to-door fighting. Machine gun chatter is all around and bullets whizz through the air, not necessarily aimed at you, but it all adds up to a chillingly realistic simulation of a war-torn cityscape.

Across the road from the hidey-hole is a path leading to a bombed-out rooftop on which there is an ammo box full of rockets to take out another 2 striders, assuming you survive the barrage of gunfire from their combined assault. The path to take after this is hard to find as it's easy to be disoriented by the surroundings. You frequently revisit old locations thinking they might lead to new paths, but the right path to take is located on the rooftop where the ammo box is located.

I was wrong about the squad-mates not being replaceable. As soon as you lose your whole squad, another 4 chappies run up and ask to join you, occasionally scaring the pants off you as they suddenly pop up from nowhere.

It's a solo mission again when you take on the Citadel, home of the nasty bearded man who has sold out humanity to "our benefactors, " whomever they are. The entrance to the Citadel is a bit annoying as it is badly-lit and even the flashlight doesn't help much distinguishing between surfaces and shadows. I missed turnings because walls were dark and adjoining corridors were equally dark. I fell off ledges and died because I couldn't see where the floor ended. The Citadel is also the place where I lost every weapon in my arsenal except for the "gravity gun" which really came into its own.

The gravity gun is an amusing toy. It works like "force push" and "pull" in Jedi Knight. It grabs objects from a distance, even large, heavy ones, and hurls them with force at approaching enemies. As long as there are objects in the environment, there is always something to use as ammo (or as a shield). It was fun to use occasionally during the zombie level as there were buzz saw blades lying around here and there. Hurling these lethal disks around chopped hapless zombies in half, though if the blades bounced back unexpectedly, they could be suicidal as well. In the Citadel, the gravity gun somehow becomes supercharged and then it really becomes fun to play with. Gravity gun: don't leave home without it!

Kuishin-bo (Suntec City) is the restaurant with the irritating monotonous advertising jingle. They play an audio clip of this ad whenever there is a limited edition special dish to collect from the buffet spread. Yes, the restaurant offers a Japanese buffet -- all-you-can-eat sashimi (salmon, maguro and swordfish), sushi, teppan-yaki, and pretty much everything else on a common Japanese menu. Weekend dinner rate = $38 per head. Weekdays rates cheaper, especially at lunch. Not a bad place to go if you're looking for Japanese food in quantity.

Got greedy and stuffed myself with sashimi and sushi. Fresh raw fish, lots of wasabe, how could I resist? June and I had to share a seafood soup which was served in a paper bowl atop a flaming burner to keep it hot. I thought the teppan-yaki was drowned in too much gravy which made it heavy. Tip: don't be greedy with the beef even though it is a prime ribeye cut.

The 4 of us -- me, June, Adrian and Mary -- waddled out after dinner and headed to the cinema to catch The Polar Express which I think was charming, though there isn't much meat to the story. It is a beautifully rendered animation with some exciting runaway train sequences. Lovely landscapes.

Characters are the usual crowd, 4 main kids: our protagonist who represents rationality and doubt, the black girl who represents decision and hope, the nerdy kid who represents knowledge/information and hubris, and the poor kid who represents pessimism and in the end, redemption. Working together when they get lost at the North Pole the kids learn from each other and grow with the experience.

One thing bugs me: what is the purpose of the Polar Express (the train, not the story)? All it seems to do is to bring kids to Santa's realm where they stay for a grand total of 5 minutes (by Singaporean rubber-time) and then they all go home again. The journey to the destination is far longer than the stay at the destination, so what's up with that? How do kids get chosen to ride the Polar Express? None of the kids have any traits in common, they seem to be picked up at random, but anyway there is no compulsion to come on board or even to see Santa when they arrive. Too many questions. I feel like the protagonist kid.

This entry is a couple of hours late, but congratulations to the Seniors '04, you are now officially Alumnii '05. I can only imagine the elation and the euphoria you must be feeling. 2 years have gone already, so enjoy the transitional limbo you are in. No worries, no responsibilities for the immediate future, no one to nag you to go study, or do homework, not even your conscience since there is none to be done anyway. People use this period to go "find themselves." It really is best to get to know yourselves better before you settle into Uni life or a career or NS because real life begins here. Good fortune, Alumnii '05! Come back and see us sometime!

Spent the morning playing HL2 (yes, I'm still far from finishing the game), celebrating Mary's birthday at Kuishin-bo then watching The Polar Express at Eng Wah Suntec City. More on all this later 'cos I'm too tired to continue writing...

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.