Although my alarm clock rang at 5:30 this morning, sunlight was already pouring through my window and I knew the worst had happened. I jumped to check June's clock and, yep, it was 7:15, no way to make it to assembly on time. Standard procedure is to notify Vince who agreed to help me take attendance for my CT. Fine.

CT rep was overjoyed that Civics Tutor was not available to take attendance personally and with much enthu marked off the register on my behalf. Great!

I arrived and gave my first tutorial of the day to a very lively Arts group. Then it was time for GP with my CT. Apart from one earnest China scholar, the room was empty. She was as mystified as I was over the whereabouts of her mates. No prizes for guessing where they were: chillin' out in the canteen, CT rep having declared my absence from campus thus no tutorial for the day. The pronouncement was premature, but an understandable mistake, given the circumstances.

By the time they sheepishly arrived for tutorial, half an hour had gone already so GP had to stretch right into CT period to make up for lost time. And I was so looking forward to playing Pictionary too.

The CT tried to appease me with an uneaten apple and some candy. Quick thinking on their part. Humph.

I have since changed the battery on my alarm clock so this mistake isn't likely to happen again, right?

I was in such a hurry to get to college this morning I forgot about popping by 7-11 to get a jar of peanut butter 'n jelly (PBJ) for the EL potluck lunch. Just as well, it probably wouldn't have gone with anything the others brought. Nirm's chicken curry, Lucy's home-made corned beef buns (so professionally done they looked store-bought), and unidentified sources brought the veggie samosas, fruit (including tiny oranges that were meant to be eaten with their skins on), Cadbury's Caramello and Vanilla ice-cream topped with strawberry and chocolate sauce, agar jelly, and rolled chocolate wafers. Ate and ran, though I really should have helped out with the cleanup. I don't have an excuse, I can be horribly thoughtless at times.

Today marks this year's annual X-country run at MacRitchie. A day where everybody gets all hot and sweaty and congratulates each other for completing the 4.2km course. Except, of course, for the unhealthy and infirm, e.g., yours truly, who spent most of the run confined to the cafe on top of the hill overlooking the reservior.

In the number of years I've attended this annual event, this is the first time the cafe was actually open and I could buy a vanilla coke to occupy me till the races were over. My fellow invalids sat with me and we spent a pleasant afternoon together in the great outdoors.

Really, if I could get medical clearance to run, I would. There's a trophy for the staff race every year, and how difficult would it be to finish in the top 6? If I was allowed to run, I'm certain this would be an attainable goal, and my desk is due for another display of glitter, if only...

Am proud of fellow pegasii, Lynnette and JY, who finished 5th and 6th in the staff women's race respectively and can now decorate their desks with their trophies. But X-country isn't a House event this year. The Championship is awarded to CCA groups instead. This year, the Championship was a clean sweep by our canoeists in both Guys and Girls team categories. Looks like they're seriously training for some serious awards this year. Seriously.

After X-country, I went to meet June at GV, PS to make use of my 2 comp tix to tonight's preview screening of Finding Neverland. I found this invitation in my pigeonhole yesterday addressed to the "Head of Drama Club," so position does have its privileges. Heh.

A very deftly balanced movie playing off the complexities of human relationships: youthful playfulness vs adult pragmatism; human imagination vs human mortality; "pretend" vs reality. It's also a comment on the marketing of public entertainment and how contact with children sometimes unlocks or reawakens the kid in all of us, to believe in and thereby enjoy the things that go far beyond mundane, inevitable reality.

Don't want to spoil the movie talking too much about it, but it is quite a beautiful piece, a bit like what Big Fish was, except not so OTT. Many in the audience developed a case of sniffles watching this movie, so be warned, a pack of tissues might come in handy, especially for the more sensitive of us. No, it may not be a howler but it is an insight into the very ordinary things that go on around us that -- with a little imagination -- transform everyday life into a daily adventure. Cool!

The GP Oral Presentation Contest is one week earlier than I had planned for. The in-tutorial preliminaries should have started this week to short-list the representatives who will represent their CTs in the 2nd round held next week in the LTs during GP lecture slots. This OP contest is intended to be the JC1s' graded assignment for Term 1, thereby giving us an alternative to marking written work by hand and reducing pressure on the new students so that they can enjoy JC life more. Also, it could be a load of fun for everyone.

The OP is to be given without AV assistance, and should be about some significant event that had taken place in recent history that had a significant impact on our lives today. Pretty much anything goes, really, and can be justifiable as such. For example, the development of the i-Pod has changed the way we access music and has led to the problems of piracy and copyright issues. Or the students could talk about changes in censorship laws in Singapore or what a change in PMs might bode for our near future. Whatever. Something happened, and now we live or think or otherwise behave differently from before.

A team of 4-5 members will represent each tutorial group, they'll all slug it out in the LTs next week, and the final 3 teams will compete in the grand finals a couple of weeks before the term ends. There is no set format in which the teams must make their presentations. They may opt for a straight prepared speech, play a skit, conduct an interview, host a talk show, whatever their imagination and creativity leads them to do.

But next week's deadline is very tight for what I had in mind. The first 2 weeks I intended to build confidence in my students. Only subsequently would I have unleashed the full magnitude of their OP obligations on them. I am making good on my promise to focus my tutorials on storytelling first before looking at GP proper and so far the activities and the students' involvement levels during tutorials have been encouragingly positive. Once they all learn to speak confidently and freely share info during tutorials will further lessons actually be engaging and fun. But, now no time , so how?

I don't care. I'm running my carefully thought out plan for my tutorial groups as is, but concurrently I will be training an 'elite' group of speakers to represent their respective CTs, giving them a crash course in research, discussion and presentation skills so they can compete competently next week. That's 'cheating' according to the word of rules governing the contest, but not the spirit. After all, I am obliged to send my best representatives to compete, right? No one should dictate how I am to go about selecting and training them. I wanna win!!!

But regardless of the outcome all my students should by the end of the term be confident speakers so that wherever they go from Term 2 on, they will continue to engage their tutors and each other, supporting each other in their preparation for uni life in the coming years. Well, let's hope I can pull it off.

The staffroom was reasonably sane this morning. A number of people knew about my weekend purchase but they didn't draw too much attention towards it. Only Anthony, Vince and Amy had a short discussion with me to find out the details and to question what I had got for the price I was paying. And they also remarked how disappointed they were that they missed the chance to go test driving with me before I made a final decision. Nothing I can do about the latter, but as for what I actually bought, here goes:

A 1.5l auto Mazda 2 in Brilliant Black. It comes with a 6-piece sports aerokit including a sports front bumper, side and rear skirt air dams and a single piece roof spoiler; 15" sports rims; reverse-gear proximity sensor; a 6-CD front loading changer with steering-wheel mounted controls; a sports leather interior (for $300 extra instead of the full price $650); and remote alarm system.

It's fuel efficient because of its VVT engine which regulates the amount of fuel consumed based on what the car is doing at the moment, and it's safe due to its 4-wheel ABS and dual air bags. It has a versatile rear compartment that can be easily configured to transport passengers or goods as necessary. With the passenger seats completely folded up I could imagine I'm actually driving an SUV. Well, I used to want an SUV before it became fashionable, but now that everyone has one, I can't be bothered with it any more.

Yes, I'm now in debt for a hefty amount. My loan is with OCBC at 2.2% per annum for 7 years (or 84 months), and there are still other per month costs of running a car that I have still got to factor in: gas, parking, ERP, insurance, taxes (road and apparently radio), maintainence... anything I've missed out? I guess I'll be doing my best to remain employed with the Ministry for a long time yet to come. No wonder people can receive 25-year long service awards on Teachers' Day.

I'm gushing, I know. But unless I get the excitement of buying a car out of my system my entries will continue to be as constipated as yesterday's entry. Am I quite done? Uhh... yeah, for today, anyway. Heh.

Right, let's change the subject...

Skipped out on tonight's workshop. Too physically tired from running around in the afternoon with the Drama Club which is being put through the paces of extra physical activity to keep the members' health up during this lull period. We raised a good sweat and even self confessed ball-phobic Mel showed the she could run and throw and catch with the best of us. If this is going to be a weekly Monday event, wonder what's going to happen to my evening workout session -- I'll be too pooped to attend, like tonight. [Hmm... still looks a bit constipated.]

It's hard to find nian gao (sweet, sticky rice cake) in the hand-made variety though the market is full of the factory-made stuff. This popular Chinese New Year snack has gone commercial and the once traditional labour of love has given way to hi-technology, hi-volume, hi-genic distribution this year. We searched our market for the banana leaf-wrapped hand-made nian gao, we scoured Chong Pang market and the market at the Block 260s, but it looks like all the small-scale suppliers have all been wiped out by big business this year. Guess it was just a matter of time. Anyone who has seen hand-made nian gao still being sold please let us know where, ok?

I may have hinted at it, but I never really came out and said it. Over the past week I was researching the web and print materials, sussing out people's opinions and opened discussions with June about it. Yesterday I took a test drive in a 1.3l Getz. Never let anyone say I am indecisive. Today, I just signed my life away for a 1.5l Mazda 2. Oooh, yeah! Zoom-zoom.

It's amazing that when I initially raised the idea of possibly becoming a car owner, June didn't seem too keen. But through the week we've been doing our math, and though I've wiped out a significant part of my savings, I have taken this opportunity to purchase something I had never thought affordable in my lifetime.

It's odd that both June and I have been independently eyeing the M2 for a while already. She took a fancy to it when she saw the display model near her workplace. Me, I've always liked Anthony's Mazda 3 for it's design and driveability but his model I know is way beyond my means, so when the option to examine a lower-end model came up, I was all eyes and ears.

June adapts quickly. From her initial resistance, one week later she's bubbling with excitement over what weekends could be like with our own transport. I guess the biggest winner would be Q-tip who can't come out with us on public transport because of people's intolerance to man's best friend. For me, there're advantages too in terms of convenience but mostly what I'm paying for is independence and direct control over where I'm going and how I'm going to get there.

After looking at the Getz last night, I intended to test a couple of other similar 1.3 to 1.5l models from other manufacturers, such as the Kia Rio and Cerato (a really affordable 1.6l) and the Suzuki Swift but when I got behind the wheel of the M2, I was immediately comfortable in it and it did everything I wanted it to on command so that it really did feel like an extension of myself on the road, unlike the Getz which had to pause to consider what I wanted before taking its time to get it done.

Throughout the drive I felt confident handling the M2. It responded well and it felt stable, controlled and ready to give an added burst of power as the situation required. Even parking (though still needing a bit more practice on my part) wasn't such a problem as yesterday, so it was the drive that really sold me.

Good thing June was with me. She handled the aesthetic decisions while I was only interested in the performance. She chose the colour -- Brilliant Black -- and opted to upgrade the cloth upholstery to sports leather. The sales rep let us do the upgrade at only half the cost as his "freebie" incentive to us. Honestly, I could have made myself difficult and asked for more, but really it's already quite a sweet deal and asking for more would just be asking for the sake of asking.

So, the new 'baby' is due in March. It's taken me to the brink of my 40th year but I've put my money where my mouth is and now I'm ready to join the grown-up world.

A day of running in and out of the house waving at the same neighbour so many times he must have thought we were mad. June’s busy preparing New Year cookies, starting with her highly anticipated pineapple tarts. After breakfast at the coffee shop, we bought 15 pineapples that the fruit shop shelled for us. While waiting, I brought Q-tip back upstairs then ran down again to meet June at NTUC. June was already at the cashier paying for her flour, Planta margarine and peanut oil when I rejoined her. We went back to collect our pineapples, then in our lift lobby we saw a little ginger-ash coloured kitten looking very lost and miaoing very loudly. So we rushed upstairs to dump our shopping, grab a can of sardines and back down again to feed the little thing. Her left eye had been glued shut with a messy eye discharge but thankfully after we cleaned her face up with tissue the eye popped open again and it looked healthy. After she ate we put her up on the top of the mailboxes where she would be safe (no one looks up there) and left her there. We had to look for cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, icing sugar and sea-salt. None to be found in our neighbourhood provision shops, so we went back upstairs to fetch our Transit-Link cards, and came back down again to catch the bus into Central. Before catching the bus, as June was also lacking finely crushed peanuts and didn’t know where to look for them, she had a brainwave and made an arrangement to buy 1kg worth from the peanut pancake auntie when new supplies arrive next week. We got most of everything we wanted from Central, except sea-salt which seems to have disappeared off shelves everywhere. Fine, we can make-do without it for a while. When we finally got home again, June got busy grinding up the pineapples then putting the pulp into the wok to cook over the next week or so. She put cloves into the mixture and she will be adding in the brown sugar and the cinnamon soon.

And sometime in the late afternoon, I test drove a Hyundai Getz. It’s been so long since I drove that I was a bit of an embarrassment to Eric, the nice salesguy. It’s fair to say I had more of a crawl rather than a spin around the block, and my reverse parking was so bad I’m pretty sure Eric really wanted to grab the steering wheel away from me and park it himself. But he kept his cool and eventually talked me through the entire procedure. Walking back to his office, I noticed that he didn’t press me to sign any contracts. Bah!

CT period was supposed to involve team building today. A good idea, since this was the kids' first CT period in the regular time-table. What better way to get some team-building done than by having them run around like mad in the midday sun, shouting and screaming, in a friendly match of captain's ball?

It was a faceoff between my S10D and Anthony's A1. 12 a side. Amy and Vince showed up as spectators in the match. They looked after the stuff in our pockets as both Anthony and I turned out for our respective CTs as opposing catchers in the 2nd half.

Since my CT had PE earlier in the morning they remained in their PE attire while I conducted our GP tutorial in the gallery. It's quite a challenge trying to make myself heard over the din of ambient noise and the construction going on in our quad, but at least the setting was novel. Anthony's group joined us to play on the track in front of the Art Room. I divided my group into 2 halves so everyone could play one half each. Anthony fielded his best team during both halves so, not surprisingly, A1 bt. S10D 10-6.

Whatever. The kids had fun, my CT rep remarking that we should have CT periods like this more often -- they're much more fun than GP. Ooooo....k...

Amy treated Vince to lunch so, instead of eating cheap like we usually do, we went a bit more upmarket. Vince chose BrownBox in Gardens which is a little cafe serving pastries and meaty main courses. And possibly creative desserts. Unfortunately, we were in a bit of a hurry otherwise we might have spent a lazy afternoon there sipping tea but work comes first, I guess.

I had the beef stew with buttered rice. Very peppery stew, which I liked, chunky bits of beef in a neat ring surrounding a semi-sphere of fluffy, grainy rice. The stew was tender with occasional fatty bits (to me this is a good thing) and the rice had a delightful texture and consistency. I would have been happier with less to no butter, though, the butter taste was a bit strong and in the combination of cow meat and rice I didn't really need it.

My drink was an Ice Earl, chilled earl grey tea with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream floating around in it. Odd flavour because the two tastes were very distinct from each other and left my mouth confused as to whether I was sensing bitter or sweet. But after the ice-cream fully melted and settled into the tea the combined flavour reminded me of green tea ice-cream, which again is an acquired taste. It takes some getting used to but it becomes addictive when it is appreciated.

Now I want to try the other stuff on the menu -- roast beef on mash, anyone?

I picked up Basapa's Naked Ambition from Popular yesterday to keep me company on the MRT ride home but Roy was with me so I couldn't read it on the train while he was talking to me. That would have been rude. I have read about half-way through now and for a piece of local writing (I have my biases) this corporate parable is quite readable, though not without its flaws.

I bought the book out of curiosity and also because I thought it would be useful to research possible scenarios that might play out in the script for this year's Drama Night production. We have a corporate setting this year and I hoped to gain some insights into the corporate world through Basapa's eyes.

Basapa lays bare the failings of a large multinational adhesive manufacturing corporation, the problems of which appear to be mainly due to several unsavoury characters whose selfish, unprincipled activities are running the company to the ground. It's these characters that Basapa focuses on, imbuing each with a particular animal trait.

Each chapter exposes a specific character's motivations, personality and survival mechanisms in the corporate jungle. Each character is predatory in some way and the office politics, the maneuvering, the posturing, the hunting of each other and the intimidating, browbeating, bullying and killing off of the weaker opponents add up to quite a fun story to read. If the world really was like this, and in many cases it is, companies large and small are very scary places to try survive in.

There are termites and ferrets, bees and pigeons, dogs and foxes, the mongoose and the king cobra, and a menagerie of other beasts who slug it out on a day-to-day basis to see who can rule the roost longest or who can climb/soar the highest. The competition isn't with rival companies steadily eating away at their market share but rather fellow employees and superiors and even underlings who are more of a threat to personal and immediate survival. The company is simply in trouble because the company isn't fulfilling its raison d'etre; there's too much infighting within its staff to make this important thing happen.

This book is a personal survival manual in the harsh corporate environment. You can use it to identify yourself and your habits, identify who your most immediate predators or competitors are and then work out counter-measures for yourself to ensure you're not someone else's lunch because you weren't careful. Alternatively, this book may also help the organization understand why it's having a hard time in the market and do something about it, to refocus everyone on who the real opponent is, staunch the bleeding and press on with renewed confidence before it's too late. Maybe.

These are human-animal stories, hence they are parables; yet in the telling of a story in which things happen because of some careful plan being put into action, there is also an unfair amount of things conveniently falling into place, or at least lacking in thoroughness of explanation.

Up to a point I really hate this story though I can't tell if it's because the characters are such a bunch of jerks that they all deserve to be lined up and shot or because the narration tends to be didactic with a specific moral accompanying each chapter, like the reader can't derive a personal opinion by himself. Sometimes, the moral doesn't even seem to match its chapter very well.

Anyway, now I know why I left the corporate world and, more importantly, I think I have some ideas for tomorrow's rehearsal.

Where were the women? Charlotte's out of town, Tina's attending a cremation (no kidding!), and the others (whatever their names are)? Maybe bad weather? Busy schedule? Whatever. Tonight found an unusually all-guy group at our Monday workshop and what a testosterone charged workout session it was.

6 guys stretching and toning, curling and uncurling, rolling and unrolling, practicing Tour Eiffels, and playing a couple of improv mime games. Straighten you spine now, move your whole body as a unit, rock gently forward and back, work that inch-below-the-navel, remember to breathe... Now that's a male bonding session -- grrawf! :-P

I guess the longer I stay with this group, the more committed I will be to the open rehearsal production being staged later this year. And why not? After all, if I'm going to head the drama club, I'd better have a production or two to show for it. Practice what I preach or I'm going to lose my credibility sooner or later. And my confidence as well. I want to attach students to theatre companies for work experience, so why should they have all the fun?

Amongst the new faces tonight, it was nice to see Roy again whom I haven't seen in years. He too hasn't been working out with the group for a long time choosing to work mainly on his own. But, as he says, we have to go back occasionally to work with people again or lose sight of our purpose or focus, and to gain new ideas from the interaction of like-minded folks. Nice to hear exactly my thoughts articulated by some other independent individual. It's like confirmation that I should be where I am. Reassuring.

National Stadium was packed but I watched the big game at home. Isn't that just like Singaporeans, turning up in numbers when the chances of victory are high, and not bothering when our team slumps? Fair-weather fans all, me included because my TV was on tonight with me glued to the screen.

OK, so we won 2-1, final aggregate 5-2, quite a convincing scoreline though we might have finished in much better circumstances if Iskander had kept his cool and not have got himself sent off in the dying minutes of the game. After the sending-off fiascoes of the Myanmar and Indonesia (first-leg) games in which we continued playing fair regardless, it's a bit of a let down to see a red-carding of our own player on our own pitch during the final game of the tourney. Captain, some more.

We haven't had much to celebrate over Singapore soccer for a long time so coming up tops in an Asian championship is kinda' sweet, but we're still a long way away from S Korea and Japan. We've done some things right, there's still lots to do left if we want to play entertaining, smooth-flowing, top-notch, goal-scoring soccer, but a win is a win. So let's party our brains out tonight, rest up tomorrow, and start training again on Tuesday.

Congrats, Lions!

To be fair, there isn't much to complain about as far as my life is concerned but if there's one thing I would bitch about is that I've always been and will probably remain transportationally challenged.

Every schoolboy rides a bicycle. At least all my friends did. But Dad wanted to teach me some good values -- the value of money, in particular -- and so I was obliged to save up for my own ride. He had no objections to me having a bike, but I would have to use my own money for it. Until then, after a couple of disastrous attempts at riding pillion, I had to content myself running behind my so-called "best buds'" bikes, at least until air bags became standard safety equipment on two-wheelers.

I never gave up on my dream of owning a bike one day. Back then my daily allowance was a little more than half a dollar, so I put my pennies faithfully into a little savings box anticipating the day my little acorns into big oaks grew. I began my savings plan in Sec 1 and by late Sec 3 I had accumulated just enough to make my scrimping pay off. I got a pretty solid fire-engine red machine for $99 and after a couple of rounds around the block the training wheels came off and I was free, independent and feeling the breeze run through my hair. What a rush!

The euphoria was short lived though. No, the bike didn't get crushed by a passing bus, nothing as dramatic as that. It's just that Sec 4 soon rolled round the corner and I was mostly confined at home to study for the all important 'O' levels. While my mind rotted under the influence of irrelevant textbooks, my bike rusted away through neglect never to be ridden again. The corroded heap was one day sold for scrap and I don't remember receiving any part of the proceeds.

Mom's favourite threat was that if I didn't study, I would never afford a car and would always watch enviously on the sidewalk as all my friends drove past me. I wonder if she could predict 4D numbers with such accuracy? Maybe I should ask her.

I think back to my uni days and the time I passed my driving theory simply because I happened to be accompanying a friend to take his driving test and I happened to be standing in the wrong line while waiting for him. To pass the time I picked up a driving manual and was perusing it at leisure while the line kept pushing me forward and towards the cashier to whom I was too embarrased to protest that I wasn't lining up to pay test fees. So based on what I had flipped through earlier, I took the test and passed. The practical test was even easier: once around the block, one competent parallel park, and "Congratulations, please stand at the wall for your ugly DMV licence photo." I've had my driving licence for years, just no car to go with it.

This no-car thing is a serious handicap to a guy's social life. I can think of potential girlfriends I have lost because of my disability. "Jack's got a car, I think I'll go out with Jack." Or Tony, or Adrian, or Mike, or.... It isn't just the convenience or the status that girls are concerned with, it's that having a car means having grown up, reached adulthood, and being someone other people can depend on rather than being always dependant on the whims of other people or the vagaries of public transport for a ride. That and the given assumption fact that cars are babe magnets.

Guys, if you ever want to get your own car, do it before you get married. Unmarried guy + car = dates :D. The car to the Girlfriend is an essential piece of dating equipment. It's convenient since the guy can make a doorstep pickup without the sweaty trek to the bus-stop; it gets to places fast; it's a showoff item in lieu of The Diamond Ring; it can even be a makeshift makeout spot for the more frisky of us. The Girlfriend loves the car. Besides, if the driver turns out to be a loser, there's always Tony, or Adrian, or Mike... to pick up where the last one left off.

Getting married before getting a car means that it isn't likely that a car will ever be needed, ever. The car to the Wife is a very different animal. The transition from Girlfriend to Wife is caused by a serious dose of pragmatism ingested immediately after cementing (sementing?) committment with the guy. The car becomes an unnecessary drain on financial and temporal resources; a source of potential danger to life and limb; a quick means of escape during domestic disputes; and every Wife knows the threat such a babe magnet can bring to conjugal happiness.

The only hope left for such a guy is to see if the Wife will make the transition into the Mother. Then the car becomes indespensible again. Taking wailing, hyperactive, olfactorily and verbally offensive imps to and from school, ballet and swimming lessons, math and Chinese tuition, soccer practice, Gramma's house and perhaps the occasional token outing to the beach [where one can contemplate walking into the water and just keep going until one reaches Tahiti] by public transport is simply a non-option. It's the car or the bar, baby!

It's either that or at the age of 70 he could go buy a classic red Ferrari on an installment plan. With any luck he would drive it once round the block, parallel park, and breathe his last before the repo guys come to take it away again.

This entry inspired by "Wheels of Fortune" (ST, January 15, 2005.)

AV for today's lecture worked and Vince got to show the pix he'd collected to the Arts group. It was gratifying to hear the audience respond to some of the more disturbing shots, the headless aborted foetus and the vulture eyeing the little starving girl for example. The group demonstrated a knowledge of the content and the context of the pix and there were a few individuals who were able to articulate some pretty cogent views based on what they saw. A generally smart bunch, this group of Year 1s.

We had something special sort of planned for this lecture. "Sort of" because we couldn't decide which specific course of action to take. We wanted to announce something about the lecturer during the lecture but we just couldn't quite think of a good excuse to take the mike away from him to do it. One idea was to surreptitiously insert an additional few slides into the presentation, but the lecturer kept reviewing his slides up to the last minute so that wasn't possible. We suggested a warm up speaker to run icebreaking games before the lecture proper, and on this pretext Amy snuck into the LT to join in the fun. But the lecturer wanted to use the whole hour himself and the icebreaking games master wasn't quite ready with any icebreaking games at that time, so no games. In desperate times, subtlety goes out the window. The lecturer finished a little early and was about to dismiss the group. We took the chance to push Anthony up to the console where he asked the lecturer if he could make an announcement. And then the whole LT sang the birthday song to our esteemed lecturer who, Anthony announced, had just turned... 18 yesterday. Heh, forever young!

I wasn't meant to be a civics tutor this year but the 1st term intake wasn't as humongously large as we had expected, though it still is bigger than we've ever seen before. So temporarily I have a CT of 26 (how will I remember all their names?) to keep me busy with this term.

My new CT is a nice mix of people with a number of foreign students, a balance of guys and gals, and though predominantly ethnically Chinese there are a couple of other Malay and Indian folks to make things interesting. The group is also a "rojak" in terms of subject combination so the only time they will meet together is during CT and GP tutorials. Wonder what this diaspora will mean for CT unity, but the individuals themselves look quite enthu, and if given too much freedom could be quite a handful. I'll try playing more the disciplinarian this year (though I doubt I could keep it up for long) and see what effect that might bring on the CT after 1 term.

I gave them a bit of a spiel about how responsible CT committee members have to be and that it isn't a good idea to nominate people they don't like for such positions because they will then be rewarding the people they dislike with PEARLS points and other recognition (glowing testimonials for e.g.) that other people (i.e., the proposers themselves) deserve. It's true, isn't it? This revelation made sense to the CT and I had no trouble getting volunteers for CT rep, etc. I am prepared to take the chance on these volunteers, that they will be as responsible as they promise, though I might still have to guide them on their methods of getting things done.

Am proud of everyone in 03A2, many of whom are working and discovering that they still haven't outgrown rules of attire, behaviour, etc., which still apply even in the corporate world for the most part (oops, sounding like the P now); but I can't live in the past any longer. New year, new kids. Time to start all over again.

Yay! I'm blogging with no strings attached! Couldn't resist picking up the MS wireless optical keyboard and mouse still being offered at Christmas prices. Now I've got rid of 2 more cables snaking under my desk, can close my keyboard drawer properly and, with keyboard comfortably on my lap, blog from a distance in the comfort of my beanbag! (Now, how do I make the words on the screen bigger?) Oddly enough, the package also comes bundled with a free PS2 mouse. Duh. Go figure.

Amy had the honour of having Anthony and me standing in an empty parking lot to reserve the space for her Echo's eventual arrival. We lunched at Killeny Road where we sadly observed that the lobster laksa shop had closed. But anyway we were there looking for durian cheong fun ("rice rolls" as the signboard helpfully translated), not laksa. We needed a more substantial lunch, though, so we ordered fried rice almost all round. I don't know about the others but I think it was obvious that fried rice isn't quite the forte of this eatery. It was slightly undercooked with little to distinguish it as something special.

Lynette amused us with her careful consideration of her choice between abalone or fresh scallop cheong fun on the side. The scallop one won out as being more value-for-money, though June strongly disagrees on this cost-benefit analysis. Reason: Canned abalone is always by far more expensive than fresh scallops any day.

And how was the house specialty? I'm not really sure. I haven't tasted enough of the durian cheong fun to make an unbiased judgement. I only took a piece and while it tasted abundantly durian-like, the mix of smooth, rubbery, bland cheong fun and the creamy durian didn't sit well in my mouth. It must be the sort of dessert one downs in quantity while simultaneously being busily engaged in conversation to be fully appreciated. Oh well, a new food experience, anyway.

I feel like there are 2 voices speaking to me from somewhere above. The voice higher up the, um, ladder says to give more freedom, more autonomy, more responsibility and personal accountability to the kids themselves. They must be independent, find their own way, express themselves as their talents and interests direct them; let them discover things for themselves through experience rather than via second-hand input; let them initiate activities amongst themselves and learn from each other.

Then there is the other voice from a little lower down. It says that we must tighten control, have many layers of accountability, more stringent monitoring for adherence to rules and regulation, black and white documentation of such transactions between instructor and student as may be considered "counselling" in order to establish a pattern of recalcitrant behaviour when such cases move up the scale for higher counselling.

It's interesting that freedom and control are so directly related to one another. The greater the freedom, the more control is needed to ensure that the system does not fall into chaos. The greater the freedom, the more numerous the variables become and control mechanisms have to be established for each possible eventuality thus making a system increasingly nit-picky. The less freedom there is, the less control is needed because every eventuality is governed by only a few (or just one) rule/s. "Off with his head!!!" comes to mind.

In the creative arts, the realm of freedom of expression as we generally allow, even such freedom is governed by rules that determine how a piece of work is created. Solo artists have talent, but it is also a process of grooming, training, practicing and developing a discipline that brings out the potential inherent in talent. Rules are especially crucial for collaborative artworks, like in theatre. Even in improv comedy such as in "Who's Line is it Anyway," the form of the created piece and the product itself are the result of imposing a set of rules on an otherwise free form of expression. Everyone knows the broad parameters of the improv games the performers play with each other to a finite set of variables provided by the audience, and the result is always hilarious and very entertaining. It would be infinitely harder to say, Ok, let's improv something together... let's see... um... and here we're at a point of searching for a rule to work with in order to get the collaboration started.

Notice I said "broad parameters" and "finite variables"? Too many rules becomes a blueprint that ensures that every product turns out the same -- as in a mass production line -- and didn't we say we were moving away from this primitive concept of education? As staff, we now have a load of procedures and protocols to administer regarding the monitoring of each individual student's behaviour, development and holistic progress, which amounts to a lot more forms to fill per student on a regular basis. New year, new initiatives. We really have to remind the kids and ourselves that it's maintaining the spirit and not the letter of the law that will balance out our 2 conflicting voices, else we'll just go nuts.

English Dept and technology don't mix well together. First GP lecture of the year and the AV goes completely dead. No picture, no sound, just the blue "no signal" screen. And the intro lecture as prepared by Anthony and Vince is graphics heavy. Idea was to flash photos taken from recent news and see what the students would say or ask about them. This plan was not to be. The intro lecture became very imagination-dependent as Anthony verbally described the pictures the students were supposed to be seeing, and he was supplying his own responses to them himself. An interactive lecture gone back to monologue instead. On hindsight, maybe he might have called up various members of the audience on stage to describe what they saw on the laptop? That way, it wouldn't have been all Anthony-talk but some audience participation as well.

There was nothing anyone could do. The equipment was working perfectly the session immediately before. Even with our tech on site, he was no help at all. A screw-up this serious usually means someone forgot to do some simple little thing, but no one could figure out this little problem this time so there was no AV throughout. Regardless, Anthony kept his cool and just did his thing. It wasn't that difficult for him to do the talking, just harder for the audience to visualize what he was saying.

For courage and composure under technical breakdown, we tutors in the back row gave him a standing ovation.

Dropped in for rehearsal workshop at 126 Cairnhill this evening. It's been at least 2 years since I attended a workout like this, when once long ago it was routine. Don't get me wrong, it's not an exhausting, sweat soaked huffnpuffarama but a soothing, gentle series of exercises to realign the body with its spine. Some mild stretching, focused breathing, some rolling and curling and de-kinking of the vertebrae. Today the exercises were a little harder for me because the stomach is starting to get in the way of my usually lithe form. Ahem.

Initially, Mel and I went there to discuss a little 'bidness' with Tina. Mel was tired and left after our chat, but I stayed on 'cos it's hard to resist YT's workout sessions. Working out like this is stress-free for the muscles and joints. It is non-impact and instead of feeling tired at the end, it's more like a recharge. I'm sure if I did this regularly, I'd be fit again real soon. I hope my Monday evenings will be free this year so I can attend this workshop more often. It's open to all at no charge so if anyone's interested to go too, just ask for details.

Downloaded another Popcap game. Anyone remember "Bookworm?" It made for a couple of our noisiest classes in 1st year 2003, as I recall. Popcap's new game is called "Insaniquarium" (actually it's been around for a while already). It's quite addictive, but if only it wasn't such hard work at the same time.

It probably got its name from the insane amount of mouse clicking involved in playing the game. There's this fish-tank, see? The idea is to populate it with different kinds of fish that kinda' live off each other in a fixed food chain. Big fish eat small fish -- that kind of relationship.

As the fish increase in size and number, they drop coins that finance the numerous upgrades for the fish tank, like better quality food and higher calibre weapons. Er... yes, every so often the fish-tank gets a visit from one or more aliens who attempt to eat the fish and so deserve to be blasted into oblivion for trespassing.

A successful round is when the financial rewards collected amount to being able to afford 3 game pieces which assemble into a complete egg that will hatch into a specialized 'pet' with a unique power. This pet goes into a stable of 24 such unique pets and up to 3 of them may be brought into the next round as helpers who run the fish-tank using their unique abilities.

The reward for clearing each round is a sub-game, the objective of which is to 'catch' as many shells as possible within a given time limit. The shells buy fish and other items for a virtual fish-tank that functions as a silly screensaver alternative to the aquarium one MS provides.

I remember Jon saying he watches the fish swim around in his tank for relaxation; playing "Insaniquarium" just might be a little more fun. So, click mouse to feed fish, catch coins, blast aliens, catch shells. A clicking frenzy. A prime suspect as the #1 cause of RSI or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Get a full workout just by manipulating a mouse. Now we know the secret to Popeye's big forearms.

What an unusual occurrence. A number of staff representing the different departments descended upon Escape Theme Park to try out some of the rides for ourselves. In an intermittent drizzle alternating with short periods of downpour, temperatures ranging from 29-29.9ºC, an assortment of our college's finest sampled the Flipper, Alpha-8 and the Pirate Ship before the rain got too heavy and the park closed the rides until better weather smiled on us again. Some staff assessed the rides as too intense for themselves to handle so they got the task of looking after our barang while we jumped on board.

The seasoned coaster nuts found each other pretty fast; we were usually the first in line and the first to compare the ride with others we'd tried elsewhere. Audrey (who turned out to be more gregarious and enthu than my initial impression of her) has tried the thrill rides in our immediate region, Anne has experience with the 6-flags chain, and me having thrilled to theme park rides in Canada, Korea and Oz found Escape mild in comparison though Flipper and Revolution came close to causing a rush for us during the occasional head-down free-falls. The Inverter, arguably Escape's most thrilling ride was closed today for "upgrading." How disappointing.

The second part of our recce was to go across the river into Pasir Ris Park. The intention was for us to trek the boardwalk through a small mangrove swamp and check out the sights, but too bad, the boardwalk was closed for repairs. Project completion projected for mid-'05. Too late to be useful to us.

What's all this Saturday gallivanting all about? It's a field-trip we are planning to bring the entire J1 cohort on next month. We're taking lessons outside the classroom while having some fun at the same time. The 1 thing we all learned today was: we'd better come up with a solid wet-weather plan or it'll be a washout, literally.

Officially, we ended our recce before lunch, but me, Anne, Audrey, Victor, SC and CY (not LCY) went back to Escape for a quick bite, then back to complete the rides we missed due to inclement weather earlier in the morning. Some quick bite... a bak kut teh for me, and thanks to Victor's itchy mouth, we stuffed ourselves further with ice cream for dessert.

Went immediately back to look for the Revolution (which is easy to underestimate the intensity of), the Wet 'n Wild (which got us all soaking wet except Audrey who wore her NDP poncho) and we lined up for the go-carts (which now seems to be covered by the price of the admission ticket, though it was a separate charge some time ago).

There are worse ways to spend one's Saturday off than hangin' out with fun-loving colleagues in a theme park.

Yay, Plan A achieved at last. For the second time in 2 weeks I went all the way to Toh Guan Road East to drop in on K'a'rcher's local customer service centre and after a little confusion with the store clerk (he thought there wasn't any stock still, but the customer service rep I spoke to on the phone assured me that stocks had come in already), I finally got my perfect Christmas gift: a new hose for the vacuum cleaner. Fine, it's not what one might consider 'romantic,' one might even say it sucks, but it is unusual, even if it is utilitarian.

Got back late from watching National Treasure. The stories about Templar treasure seem to be much the rage now thanks to Brown's bestseller. Speculations go on as the romance of knightly nobility and the excitement of discovering the unknown or lost are the stuff popular tales are made of.

One reviewer described NT as The Amazing Race and, yeah, it is kinda' like that. The race to get to the next clue, to perform the required task and move on to the next clue as the end point draws nearer and nearer is there, though the stakes in the movie are higher than just a paltry million dollars.

Protagonist, Gates, and antagonist, Ian, are the complete opposites of each other. Both seek the treasure for very different reasons and both use methods to acquire the treasure that are poles apart from each other. Gates is selfless, patient, and uses his talented and well-informed brain to overcome problems, solve mysteries and play tricks to accomplish his goals. The villain, Ian, is selfish, impatient and prefers brute force to subtlety. Yep, opposites, all right. Makes for uncomplicated storytelling.

Then there is the value of the treasure itself. Ian and his party focus on the financial wealth the treasure can bring them whereas Ben's party seeks its intrinsic historical value and its benefit to the human race as a collective. The most telling scene must be when Ben and co. become trapped in the treasure room. Though surrounding them is an almost endless multitude of items made of precious metals and other minerals worth billions of moolah, what fascinates the party is the historical significance of the find, the opportunity for humanity to reclaim a lost heritage on a worldwide scale, and the means for people to come to an understanding of themselves as a result thereof.

The only specific lost treasure identified by Dr Chase is the collection of scrolls thought to be lost from the Great Library of Alexandria, a treasure that is worth more to inquiring human intellect than to patent leather wallet. Gates finds psychological satisfaction in making the discovery while keeping his entire party alive and safe. Comic relief, Riley Poole, is most overcome by his own perception of the greatest treasure in the room -- the exit door, the way out.

The movie is a thrill ride mostly paid for by the Tourism Board of the US of A. Locations traverse the must-see heritage sites for tourists to America, from DC to Philly to New Yawk/New Joizey, to Baastan (Boston). But the questions we ask ourselves are, what is the treasure we work so hard to pursue? what is its worth? what are we prepared to do to get it? and once you've got it, how are you going to use it to benefit whom?

Finally got to see Flirt's babies. They live outside the bakery, all huddled together for warmth and security. Four of them: 1 looks like Flirt, 2 are ash coloured (like Grandma Girlfriend, and Aunt Nabiki) and 1 a ginger-ash mix (presumable reflecting Dad's colours). We'll wait a couple more weeks when we're sure they're properly weaned before we spay Flirt once and for all. All 4 kittens are so cute. To think they might have been aborted...! Dr Casey saved their lives by refusing to operate on Flirt when we first brought her in for spaying. Guess he's their Godfather now.

CCA recruitment drive, though today's efforts usually draw a number of sign ups, but when the 'O' results come out in March, many will leave for greener pastures. Nevertheless, NYeDC showed committment in their two performances despite some technical hitches which we hadn't had time to work out earlier. A full tech run might have been helpful though time, personnel and venue constraints made this difficult to arrange.

The company played "The Mighty Mandarin," a Sec 2 English Lit drama text in the atrium, a space without a defined performance area and lots of noisy human traffic. The script has a dumb plotline -- how difficult is is to play a trick on an idiot? -- but there are moments of physical comedy and some passable wordplay. I remember this text well as it was the first text I took a lit test on -- and failed miserably. My lit teacher was very upset with our class and berated us for our ignorance of simple literary devices, yadda, yadda. I nearly wanted to give up lit there and then. Later lit turned out to be the only subject I was good at in Sec School, hence my scintillating academic history.

We also played an excerpt from "Sing to the Dawn," a battle of the sexes vs family bonds themed text. LT4 sound was terrible, but it was also the performers' inexperience in using the mikes that was part of the problem. A few other staging kinks could have been worked out with more time, but there'll be a second chance to polish when we run the lunchtime performances in the very near future.

Also worked out the rehearsal schedule for Drama Night '05, and it's so heavy I'm going to have to write letters of apology to parents for keeping their kids out so late so often until the production is over. Considering that our script is still in its skeletal stage, I need all the time I can squeeze from everyone to get a good show this year.

Am also hoping to get the bookings for the Security Seminar '05 done EARLY this year to avoid the pre-promo exam seminar slot of last year. No more sitting on the form till the last minute. Dates are allocated on a 1st come 1st served basis so I hope to get P's signature on the booking form tomorrow. One fax later and I will get a favourable date. Fingers crossed.

Quite against what had been promised Anthony and me, while we were being primed by Vince to take up duty at Fort Canning, our actual assignment plonked us in the shopping district to look after the SAM, Good Shepherd, CHIJMES,and Raffles Hotel checkpoints for this morning's scavenger hunt. This was a pleasant surprise as we were comparing locations with Lynette who was initially promised the assignment we got. In a complete switcheroo, she went up to feed mossies up the hill instead. Perhaps Providence was at work?

Our location gave us quite a bit of choice as to breakfast possibilities. With our assigned student first-aider in tow, we caught a quick breakfast at Rocky Master, located opposite the Seah Street Deli. The cafe had some cheap breakfast options. I went for the French toast with Canadian maple syrup and Anthony had a Spanish omelette, both with a robust wake-me-up coffee for under $4 each. Our first-aider was polite and had a muffin with tea.

After eating we set up our "base of operations" in the fountain courtyard in CHIJMES to oversee the group activities that would soon follow. We yakked a bit with our first-aider, speculating on the worst kinds of injuries that he might be able to take care of. Minor abrasions, sprains, cramps, but not much more, he admitted. Not long after, I got a call: "student not feeling well at SAM." Great, some action! We took a brisk walk across the road to the scene of the emergency. Some kid must have been feeling faint, or had a headache, or didn't eat brekkie or something.

When we arrived, our patient was sitting on the floor, propped up on a doric pillar. His breathing was shallow and there was a passer-by bent over him administering some kind of treatment. The OGL who remained behind to meet us introduced the stranger as a medic who happened to be passing by at the time. The medic stood up and announced his diagnosis -- mild heart attack! That floored me for a second. Ohmigod. But the ambulance was already on it's way, thanks to quick action from the SAM security and all I needed to do was to accompany the kid to hospital in the ambulance.

En route, Anthony SMSed me the kid's personal particulars in case I had to do the admin while he was being warded. I didn't have to after all, the paramedics did all the admin for me as part of their routine. Meantime, I managed to contact his Mom to inform her what had happened. I was so glad I didn't have to relay any messages in Mandarin -- I wouldn't have known what to say, let alone say it tactfully. Vince and Anthony joined me at the hossie to keep me company and eventually his Dad arrived to take over from us.

A dramatic morning, but thankfully the doctors decided the case wasn't too serious. They kept him under observation for "a few hours" then I suppose they'll give him a few days' MC while he recuperates.

Vince, Anthony and I had lunch at Thai Express at the Esplanade where Vince had parked his car. I had a nice olive fried rice with bits of chicken thrown in. Quite yummy.

Then back to college where I and a bunch of other staff and students helped Agnes load up a minivan they called in to deliver a huge mound of donated clothes destined for tidal wave relief.

After all that excitement, I wonder what Thursday's duty is going to be like? If we're stationed at the same place again, we're trying out the big American breakfast at the same cafe we were at this morning. Deep-fried bacon, sausage, etc... Talk about tempting fate.

Returned to work wearing the college tie so that we staff could make a good impression on the new year 1s on their first day. This week they'll be in the tender care of their OGLs and Councillors, so we won't get to have much direct contact with them for a while. Same types of kids arrive at our doorstep every year -- the earnest, wide-eyed ones, the trying-to-be-cool, bored looking ones, the blur, slightly overwhelmed ones -- and the rest who are hard to tell one from another at this stage. Tried to look at individual faces in the crowd to play who-do-I-want-in-my-classes? but I drew a blank. Too many faces, no opportunity as yet to observe different personalities for myself, so one face should be about as good as another right now. Well, give them time.

Vince and Anthony "volunteered" me for tomorrow's outdoor orientation activity, a sort of scavenger hunt around the downtown civic district investigating landmarks and unearthing nuggets of historical trivia on site. I actually agreed to Thursday's duty but really I don't mind helping out on another day either since it involves a change of environment and the permission to dress down slightly to suit the "fatigue" nature of the activity. Jeans, then, I guess. Should I opt to make myself comfortable under the trees up the forbidden hill, or chill out in a swanky 6-star hotel while I keep an eye on the respective proceedings? I haven't decided yet.

But at the back of my mind I also know that the clock is ticking on a number of projects under my charge as well -- drama, NE, and subject-related just to name the more pressing ones. Already met my lecture group today to discuss our materials for our upcoming mass media lecture series, and Cikgu asking to meet this week about TD Day.

Yee also showed me the sound and light controls in LT4. Strange things happened when we played the sample CD left in the CD player... the National Anthem came on over the speakers and nothing we did on the sound board seemed to reduce the volume in any way. Eerily, even when we switched off the CD player we could still hear the anthem very faintly over the speakers. I poked my head outside LT4 and, yes, I could still hear it over the entire college's PA system as well! I can only conclude that coincidentally, the AV people were testing the PA system at the same time we were playing with the sound system in the LT. I don't want to listen to any other theories, thank you.

In the late afternoon, the Drama Club was hard at work rehearsing for the 2 CCA Bazaar items due Wednesday. They are quite dedicated and serious about putting up a good show. Today, since all 3 of us advisors were around, the cast got an earful of helpful suggestions from all of us regarding staging, movement, sequencing, motivation, enunciation, etc. A case of too many cooks? Must work out our division of labour carefully else our performers are going to be one confused bunch during the show.

First, a word to 'nette who has suffered a Series of Unfortunate Events, apparently all on the same day: please take good care of yourself and get well soon!

Today was my last opportunity to oversleep for a while and I made good use of it. We had a simple kopi tiam breakfast downstairs so Q-tip finally got a token outing after many days' confinement.

Went to watch "The Phantom of the Opera" in the afternoon. Watching it on film is quite a different experience from the 'live' performance. There's nothing like the feeling you get when you have to dress up appropriate to the price you paid for a ticket and go to the Theatre to watch the stars singing the songs you're so familiar with in person. There is the expectation that anything can happen as opposed to expecting recorded perfection.

But the movie makes for clearer storytelling, a bit better exposition of the events taking place and in the involvement of the various characters concerned in the narrative. For example, I never understood why the chandelier didn't fall straight onto the audience seated directly below it, but the movie showed that the main support for the heavy chandelier was a length of cable that stretched from the stage to the centre of the domed roof of the theatre from which the chandelier suspended. Hence when the chandelier gave way it followed the cable back towards the stage like a pendulum rather than dropping like a stone. The movie also gave ballet mistress, Mme Giry, a more direct role with her inside knowledge of the Phantom; and some gorgeous locations like the eerily serene graveyard and the ostentatious hall with the grand sweeping staircase of the opera house.

Director, Schumaker, goes all out to make his film as sumptuously rich and lush with set and costume design, tinging the basic colour scheme of black and white, light vs darkness conflict, with glorious golds and reds. There's a bit during the masquerade that contrasts all this splendour with the rough, drunken revelry of the poorer members of the opera troupe who remain behind the scenes, invisible to the lords and ladies wearing masks to amuse themselves. There's a Masters' thesis in here somewhere, I'm sure of it.

And of course the music, beautiful, moving at times. A double-whammy for me as it evokes nostalgia for me as well, being that the Phantom was all the rage in TO in the late 80's. It enjoyed a hugely successful run at the then newly-restored Pantages Theatre. I still have memories of friends who were so crazy over the show they played and sang to LPs (CDs weren't popular then) so often they memorized the whole thing, though no one else was dumb enough to test this claim.

Right. So back to college tomorrow after a nice, long break. In the words of the 7 dwarves, "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go..."

Woke up late again, too late for breakfast. Poor Q-tip is quite disappointed as she hasn't gone out for a few days already, so late and so lazy we are.

We went to Mom-in-law's to deliver her Christmas present, belated as we didn't have the opportunity to see her over the Christmas period. We also brought along 3 large cans of cream crackers for mom-in-law to take with her to the community centre where she's volunteering to help with the logistics of the donations being sent over to the tsunami victims.

Went to McD's for lunch where we acquired a white uni and a yellow aisha to accompany the scorchio, lupe and ixi already hanging out in my study. At lunch 'rah SMSed to remind me about tonight's BBQ at Rach's. See pix below...


03A2 New Year's BBQ 2005

An evening of pyromania and again too much food. 40 chicken wings, 100 sticks of otah, mounds of fishballs, crabstix and franks, 2 packs of marshmallows, and not enough of us to finish it all.

Everyone's got or is getting some kind of job to keep them occupied until the 'A' results come out. Mostly minimum wage, service industry jobs; but also the best way to inspire a desire to pursue tertiary studies as soon as the opportunity arises. Or not... who knows what other opportunities might arise while on the job? Just keep your eyes and options open, is my best advice.

Rach opened up 2 boxes of sparklers which we tentatively lit at first, then soon after greedily consumed the whole lot in a pyromanic frenzy in the playground opposite her house. Check it out! The rest of the photos are here.

Hey! Lookit the date! We made it into 2005 and everything's new again. New kids, new workload, new promises, new ideas. For 03A2, it's having to cope with the fact that we're now disbanded and everyone's got new responsibilities, be they military, employment or further studies. I have a notorious memory for people and names, so I'll list you all here as according to my register to acknowledge you, to thank you for being such a major part of my life, and to remind myself that I don't wish to forget you now that you've moved on:
Rach, Mei, Yan, Pris, Farizah, Lynn, Nige, 'nette, Ron, 'rah, 'sif, Fadzli, Fifi, Iqbal, Sarab, Sidi, Farisa, Kareen, Mindy, Chun, and 'gel.

Also, to the members of NYeDC 03-04, the experience of bringing "The Odyssey" to life with you is something I don't want to forget either.
Gid, Sam, Ramzi, Sanjeeda, Anita, Heng Tin, Durga, Meixian, Joanne, Melissa, Junxian, Mei, 'sif, Adam, Ain, Gavin, Reina, Liu Yin, Pei Rong, Shariffah, and Teng How.

It'll be hard going without Cara, my good friend and the den mother holding the club together. I hope Mel can take her place 'cos between Pete and me our people skills are practically non-existent. Bit worried about that.

New challenges to cope with and overcome then for 2005. A couple of days left to hide under my rock then it'll be time to meet the new year with all cylinders firing.

May 2005 be a great year for all of us! Cheers!

Day 2 of the workplan seminar. More of the same stuff, this time more focused on incorporating the different aspects of yesterday's discussion specific to subjects taught by the individual departments. Most useful demos were strategies to get group members to work together and stay focused and on task. The idea is simple, yet effective: group work needs to be exhibited (regardless of quality) as it requires audience feedback in order to improve. Preferably an audience of peers whose feedback rates more credibly than that of the teacher's.

Discussion broke up into department level then further broken by year. Term 1 for the year 1s in 2005 could be quite fun. The focus will be on developing oral and collaborative skills in our students, so the assessment for the term will be group based and oral in nature though the presentation style may vary according to the preferences of the groups. I wanted to train my tutorial groups in the ancient art of storytelling, so I'm encouraged that both my agenda and that of the department coincide. The term will be pretty short so better watch my time carefully.

A reunion for all staff today, well, a working reunion that is. The first day of a 2-day long meeting with each committee in charge of various aspects of the college presenting their plans for the coming year. P opened with the usual reminders of the fundamentals of education, the Ministry's ideas as to how they are going to become a reality in our students, and how hard the various committees have been working on our college's plan for 2005, particularly as the Ministry's new direction is to give every institution more autonomy to customize its programmes for its students.

She also reminded us about setting the right examples for our students in terms of maintaining decorum in behaviour and attire, and while it sounds a bit uppity and elitist I have to agree that the institution of the Junior College is meant to train the elite of our society regardless of a student's prior background/creed/ethnicity/social position, and as such there should be some standard that we need to maintain and exemplify if our students are to acquire the bearing that they need to carry off the elite status they have the potential to attain.

Very idealistic what we want to impart to our students in the 2 years they are with us. Developing the whole being, i.e., more than just the academic aspect but also the moral, physical, social, aesthetic aspects, is nothing new to our college but in 2005 the committees are looking into ways to quantify each student's level of success in developing all these areas in their lives.

Wow, all-round testing for the students, with the assessment in black and white to accompany it. Perhaps we are beginning to see that a person's academic success is, as I've said before, a side-effect of developing the total person. Most every academic success story is about people who do everything well, and we wonder how they find the time to study amongst all the other things they are actively involved in. The simplified answer is that they learn as they do. They don't compartmentalize their study within the subjects they take; rather they learn everything at the same time, everytime, regardless of their activity they are currently engaged in.

I'm not sure filling in monitoring forms will help the process in each and every student, though. I guess it helps us to feel like we are playing an active role in nurturing the positive traits we want to see our students grow in. But ultimately it's not the immaculately filled up forms that's going to do the trick (though it'll make us look good) but rather it's in showing students that we ourselves are successful people living fulfilling lives as a result of developing these traits in ourselves that will make them desirable to our students to emulate for their own success and fulfillment.

Once again, there are good, well-intentioned ideas on the table. I hope we don't get so bogged down by processes and programmes and procedures (an easy rut to fall into) that we forget to be the successful, fulfilled people that are bursting to share the secrets of our success with our junior beings.

Perhaps now I'm being too idealistic?

Vacation time is practically over. Now is the hangover from Christmas and from running around in a foreign country. The Quake is a horribly sobering reality to wake up to. The work cycle is beginning again in just a few days. I should look forward to starting work again: life gets exciting with the chaos of campus and the camaraderie of colleagues but it's overcoming the inertia that's settled in, the slow creaking of rusty joints and lazy bones that makes waking up in the morning so difficult. We sleep late to make the day last longer, and we curse the morning that's half wasted 'cos we woke up at 10 or 11. No wonder I'm feeling blaah again.

Must get active. Must move around again. Side note: all that walking around in Oz seems to have done me good; my joints don't hurt as much any more climbing stairs! Must exercise! Hey, these imperatives are staring to look like new year resolutions.

Back to work starting tomorrow with our 2-day work plan seminar where they tell us what's going on the coming year and what our responsibilities are going to be. I can't wait. Yay.

Whoa! Yahoo's been reporting the biggest quake in 40 years occurring in Indonesia, our neighbouring country. 8.9 Richter is tremendous, and the body count as of now is 7000 across Asia and SE Asia. This event is unimaginable to us, particularly since we didn't feel a thing. No shakes, no tremors, none of the 20ft high waves that crashed into coastal resorts and villages as far away as India, killing thousands and making millions homeless.

And what are we doing here in Singapore? Continuing to celebrate Christmas like nothing's happening anywhere else in the world. We had better stop taking such blessings for granted. We can't count on being so sheltered and insulated every time. We may have been protected this time around, but others have been badly hit. So let's look for opportunities to assist in the relief efforts in whatever form is needed. Keep your eyes open, 'k?

Sigh. After all that, it's hard to record down the clan gathering at my uncle's place tonight. The family of my maternal side meets every year at Christmas as a tradition that stretches back to Great-Grandma's time to the present. My maternal side is a very large extended family and unless we've kept close tabs on who's who and what developments have taken place over the past year, it's hard to believe how quickly members of the family grow up and pair off and even have little ones of their own.

This side of the family tends to have more professionals in the private sector than my dad's side who are mostly government employees. Mom's side tends to have bigger achievers, whether in terms of career, or sporting activities, or scholarship, or family growth, so for an underachiever (read 'slacker') like me it felt a bit more awkward tonight than at Christmas eve with my dad's side.

The gathering was at the Caribbean, a condo project at Harbourfront on the site of the old Empire Docks. Architecture very geometric, full of glass and steel, lots of landscaping and scattered all around with water features of odd metallic designs. I thought the location would serve well as a set for a futuristic movie. Hmm...

So, once again, lots of good food, carol singing, some scripture reading, and quite some gift exchanging. In this large family it gets a bit chaotic (even with a volunteer Santa to help with gift distribution), but it's fun as well. Same time next year?

Fell asleep blogging last night and sat at my desk while dreams of sugarplum faries danced round my head. Jerked awake at 0330 and crawled off to shower and into bed just after 0400. No wonder we woke up so late this morning.

If we were kids, we'd be up by 0600 unwrapping presents; but now that we're older the impatience to count the loot no longer factors into the excitement of Christmas. We're old enough to know that our pressies will still be there whenever we choose to open them, and that noone else is likely to snatch them from us if we're not looking. The rush to open our gifts gives way to the fatigue of carousing all night, so we can afford to wait.

June hid my gift under the comforter by my pillow. I've learned to be careful around times when presents are likely to be given as I nearly got a concussion the first time she tried something like this. I vaguely remember that she hid a hardcover tome INside my pillowcase... much to my surprise at bedtime. It wasn't quite the bonk I was looking forward to. This Christmas she got me a gift voucher from Borders and a box of really nice chocolates. Thanks, June!

I got her a pair of leather-bound sandals in the design that she likes, though she was under the impression that they don't make 'em in her size. I happened to find a pair that fit her, so that was Plan B, as it turned out. The box they came in was a bit bulky so I had to hide her pressie under the bed. I told her Q-tip had crapped under the bed to trick her into looking there to find her gift.

Mary must have heard that we did not receive any invitations to go anywhere for dinner or whatever during Christmas last year (for some reason, everyone we knew had something else to do instead of observing the Yuletide season). She invited us to her family dinner tonight. More good food, pleasant conversation particularly with her Mom who loved to talk about growing up in Penang and how her Singaporean pen-pal became Mary's gramps.

Dinner with the maternal side of my family tomorrow night. I am going to be one stuffed turkey when term reopens next week. But hey, it's only once a year so bring it on!

The traditional calling together of the clan over the Christmas season is one of the few opportunities for us to gather, when once long, long ago, we met each other practically on a weekly basis. It's always great fun when family on my paternal side organize ourselves together. Loud conversations and lots of excitement in the air, mostly from the older folk. Well, yes and no, because our succeeding generation usually adds its own brand of familial chaos to the dinner table. Tonight's dinner was quieter than usual as more than half the kids in the (extended) family were overseas on holiday, so this year the uncles and aunties dominated.

Too much good food to celebrate Christmas with. 3 roast chickens, a platter of Sakae Sushi, a pot of stewed lamb, kong bak with accompanying dumplings, fresh garden salad, a bowl of stir-fried veggies, roast pork, 2 steamed pomfret, a large pot of mushroom soup with 2 blocks of butter dissolved in it, fried noodles, konnyaku jelly and caramel custard for dessert; and lots of Coke, Heineken, cappucino and red wine. Unlike previous years, there was a significant quantity of leftovers. Most of us got full faster than usual and we generally decided that age is slowing all of us down.

Sang our first carols before midnight; this year it was the remaining kids providing the accompanying music for the first time ever. Nice to see they're starting to earn their keep, eh?

Mission failed. I had the perfect idea for the perfect Christmas gift (well, 'perfect' is a matter of opinion) but when I got to the store, there was no stock. New stock will arrive in 2 weeks, guaranteed. Right. Damn. What lousy timing. Time to execute Plan B then. Umm... what was Plan B again?

Had in-laws over for dinner. Mom-in-law brought her annual fruitcake gift for me to deliver to my mom when I see her tomorrow. Mom-in-law's fruitcake is a hot favourite 'cos densely packed as it is with fruit and nuts, it's still light enough to down in quantity. Mom's gift is particularly special because of the additional layer of frosting and the Christmassy figurines that turn a mundane-looking fruitcake into a diorama of a winter wonderland.

Going over to my Aunt's place for Christmas dinner tomorrow evening. I probably won't be back in time, so here's an early "Merry Christmas" to one and all!!! Have a great one, folks!

Casting began for Drama Night 2005 this morning.

Dom dropped in to deliver Q-tip whose fur has grown enough so we won't mistake her for a chihuahua anymore. She's cute again!

Went to the in-laws to celebrate the Winter Solstice with homemade boiled and deep fried wo tie (Shanghainese dumplings).

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Went to the Fish Market for breakfast. Steamed lobster (half each), a dozen freshly shucked oysters, beer battered barrimundi, hot beverage. Something to remember for a long time to come.

Walked right up Pitt Street to the main shopping district to spend our last day taking in our last exposure to Sydney life before returning to the Vulcan to pick up our stuff and check out.

Cab to Central, subway to International Airport.

And here, Dorothy clicks the heels of her ruby slippers together and repeats to herself, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

Hello Belle! Hello Momo! Hello Q-tip, when Dom returns you from boarding tomorrow evening! We missed you all! Oh, and Watson too!

On our last full day in Oz we mostly rode every public transport vehicle we could in order to make the most use of our Sydney Pass as possible before we left.

Finally got my bacon and eggs at the Vulcan then walked to Central for the subway to Kings Cross to photograph the Al Alamein fountain, a WWII memorial. It was early morning so Kings Cross, the celebrated red-light district of Sydney, wasn't quite awake yet and was therefore unremarkable.

Revisited St Mary's Church and bought a ticket to tour the crypts which we were too late to view the last time we were here. The crypts are beautiful and very peaceful. A large cross decorates the whole of the crucifix-shaped floor, and there is a tranquil, pastoral picture at each cardinal point and a picture of heaven and earth meeting at the intersection.

A few of the Bishops and Archbishops who once presided over the church rest there now and some of the church's old Catholic paraphenelia are on display alongside a static exhibition on the history of the Catholic church in Sydney.

We walked back to Circular Quay for the 1300 afternoon Harbourview cruise. It's a nice, long cruise (2 and a half hours long) and took us around the harbour showing off the splendid sights of Sydney's famous landmarks, its awesome surf, its dramatic cliffs and rocks on which the waves foam and break, and an assortment of luxurious residences all along the seafront. There is no ugly spot to be seen anywhere. Wherever our eyes wandered they were met with a prestine, picturesque landscape.

Back at Circular Quay, we caught the blue Bondi Explorer to see the sights of the Eastern side of Sydney -- the residential and beach side. It was an envious drive past all the gorgeous houses we could never afford. The beaches boast amazingly high waves and only the surfer dudes could be seen braving such surf.

We stopped at the Gap, the entrance into from the Pacific Ocean. Here, the cliffs meet the surf in an explosion of spray and white water -- what a sight!

Caught the last Bondi Explorer of the day back into Martin Square for a wander around before walking back to the Quay for the 2000 evening Harbourlights cruise. A shorter cruise this time (about 1 and a half hours long), but Sydney all lighted up at night is a different kind of magic from its face in daylight. I love the sight of a city lit up at night and this sight didn't disappoint at all. What can I say? Sydney is beautiful. Wow!

Our Sydney Passes are now retired (except for one last ride to the airport tomorrow) but at least they retired smokin'.

The train ride from Central to Newcastle takes about 2 and a half hours. The journey takes us past the spectacular landscape of New South Wales. So much to see of forests, mountains, rivers and trees. Human development and habitation has only touched the land at the edges and it's really nice to see that the majority of the natural world is still left intact.

Slept on and off in the train, then closer to Newcastle this little kid started reading aloud from his joke book to his family group and try as we could we could ignore him no longer. The jokes were so terribly (as in bad, corny, lame, inane) that they kept us awake and groaning at each punchline. Please, if you value your sanity, do NOT ever buy The Incredibles Joke Book for any little kid you know this Christmas.

Newcastle is a small town with lots of historic colonial buildings. The town is very well maintained for its antiquity and takes great pride in its appearance. But we weren't there to tour the town. We took a short walk (assisted by the amiable locals) to the ferry terminal where we boarded the ferry for a 5 minute cruise into Stockton across the harbour.

What's in Stockton? Blazing heat, heat like we've not felt before. The sun shining brightly down, the air warm, reflecting off the sidewalk. If not for the breezy coastal winds, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have made it far up the main road to find the water we had foolishly neglected to purchase when we were on the Newcastle side.

Shops in Stockton close early on Sunday -- the newsagent closed at 1000hrs! Fortunately, June spotted an IGA supermarket so we cooled off and bought a 1.5 litre bottle of spring water for later use.

We walked back to the Stockton terminal refreshed and before long, our guide pulled up in his sister's Tucson and we joined 2 of our fellow adventurers on the afternoon Sand Safari tour.

There were 12 of us and 3 guides. 1st, the helmet fitting, then the mandatory waiver signing, then the Land Cruiser ride taking us to our much anticipated dune eating 4x4 Honda quad bikes!

After a short handling and safety briefing, we hopped on our bikes and Indian-file rode out into the desert. Actually, the location is a 2km wide beach with huge sand dunes drifting at the mercy of the wind, so it is practically a desert until the water's edge. We had a couple of photo-ops, one in front of a 30-year old shipwreck that has been left to rot 'cos it isn't worth the trouble to salvage.

Our course was a relatively simple one for beginners and it took most of the afternoon to get around the dunes. The ride was thoroughly satisfying; sometimes revving our bikes to 50kph and lots of ups and downs and arounds to keep it challenging without it being too dangerous.

Not that our guides were blase about the dangers. In fact, they kept recounting horror stories about people who flipped their bikes and got squashed underneath, or that they went up the wrong rise and plummetted unexpectedly down a great height to disaster. The stories were enought to keep us meekly following the bike immediately in front of us to ensure that everyone kept to the same safe paths.

And so the afternoon went in a rush of sweat, adrenaline and diesel. At the end of our ride, our guides provided us with ice-cold tetra-paks of juice. Yeah!

When we got back to the Stockton terminal, the weather took a sudden turn. The wind howled and the rain poured in torrents on our heads. It got cold. Our ferry ride was bumpy, but no danger though.

Arrived in Central after another 2 and a half hour ride. It was dry here, but blustery and cold. We hurried back to our hotel after a quick dinner. No point hanging around in bad weather.

Notice I haven't mentioned much about meals today? Too much of a deja vous from yesterday. Boring.

Woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs from the hotel cafe. However in a rare attempt at frugality, we had to forego the $9 Vulcan Big Breakfast. Instead we went again to Paddy's Market, this time to the fruit and vegetable side that we missed yesterday. Cheap, fresh, fragrant stuff.

Found a $10 note on the sidewalk and used it to pay for our breakfast at McD's. Exactly the same as in Singapore except for the sausage that was probably pork and definitely not halal. I still want bacon and eggs though. Sigh.

Caught the Explorer to our 1st stop, The Rocks. Here, June was in her element -- exactly what she had been looking for in a weekend market: unique handicrafts and artworks made by authentic Australian hands. Here is a list of our purchases:

1 x display mobile made of twisted forks and spoons
1 x eucalyptus scented wooden puzzle block
2 x fridge magnets hand-carved from wood
2 x scented wardrobe protectors, guaranteed 3 years
1 x banana bread
1 x lemonade
1 x reproduction painting of Sydney landmarks
1 x book of collected Aboriginal folktales (my purchase)

This is the most shopping we've done since we arrived in Oz!

Loaded with our purchases, we hopped Explorer to view Sydney Opera House up close and personal. From afar, the overall structure is already impressive. Close-up and it's the texture of the tiling that grabs the attention. With all the ceramic layering its surface it looks set to be an alternative space shuttle design. Took lots of photos here.

Explorer to Mrs MacQuarie's Chair, a spot on the harbour that Gov McQ had designated as a garden and as a lookout spot for his wife (i.e., for his wife to look out of, not for him to look out for his wife). Her chair had been carved into the rocks here and it became her favourite hangout. Today women sit on her chair and make a wish. This place is also the best land-based vantage point to frame the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the same photo.

Explorer to Wooloomooloo and the site of the original Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Finally got to order our pies; a Tiger for me, and a chicken and cheese pie for June. Wow! Excellent stuff and reasonably priced too. They are substantial and taste great! Meaty and juicy, crust flaky and light. The addition of mash and mushy peas on the Tiger made it more of a meal. After guzzling our pies, we ordered another hotdog to share, I am unashamed to confess.

Explorer back to our hotel to dump our purchases and get ready for dinner with Charis, Samson and DotDot, their King Charles. We grabbed their pressies and stuff they wanted us to get for them. Went to Central to check out the timetable for our train ride up to Newcastle tomorrow, then went to meet our friends at the bus stop.

It's great to see them again after 2 years. They've settled down in the suburbs and DotDot still remembers us. She's such a dear. We saw their lovely house then drove out to Hurstville for Viet food. Our pho was big with good, lean beef and piles of sprouts and mint leaves. June was very happy to see the saucer of chilli padi. DotDot sat patiently in her seat while we ate, and attracted lots of "so cute" from passers by. Charis and Sam kindly drove us back to the Vulcan after dinner. Wonder when we'll see them again?

Caught the 0924 back to Sydney. The trip took a little more than 2 hours to arrive because of the morning congestion at Central Station. The train operator kept giving us periodic updates on the ETA while registering his own impatience with the system.

The Vulcan upgraded our room to a very modern furnished one. 202 even has a working fireplace, though this being summer, it's too hot to light it. Besides, it'll play havoc with the air-conditioning.

Today we spent most of our time hopping the Explorer bus and using the 1st day of our 3-day pass as much as we could.

On Friday, Paddy's Market opens for business, so we headed out there and saw... a big pasar malam, manned and operated mostly by more Asian folk. Hence, the merchandise was nothing unusual to us. Clothes, toys, stuff. After a short prowl we gave up and crossed the street into Chinatown...

... where we ordered a char siew fan, a siew ngap fan, and a soi gow tong from a Hongkonger run restaurant. Same thing: high prices, humongous portions. June and I were slack-jawed for a second then worked our way slowly through what looked like half a roast duck, a large fraction of roast pig, a vegetable side, and a number of huge dumplings stuffed with fresh prawns, minced meat and black fungus. Oh, for cheaper meals and smaller portions.

Then back on the Explorer to Argyle place to take pictures at Garrison Church, Explorer to Campbell's Cove to take pictures of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, Explorer to take pictures at the magnificent St Mary's Cathedral and surroundings, and a short walk to the Hard Rock Cafe where the t-shirts cost much less than the ones in Surfers'.

The Explorer bus is a lot of fun, particularly when the driver turns off the canned "tourist info" recording and launches into his own politically incorrect commentary on local politics, Sydney landmarks, famous Australians, and occasionally pointing out the more attractive female passers by whom we might otherwise have missed seeing.

At Circular Quay we had a change of driver. The new guy took over wearing a Father Christmas costume complete with fake beard and sunglasses. He distributed candy to the lone kid seated in the 5th row before driving on. Sydney -- lots of elderly folk, few kids.

Whoever designed Sydney must have been a conglomeration of artists and other people with an eye for the visually stunning. I love the designs that blend the old with the new, the geometric with the organic, the blending of different tastes from different times. What a fun place!

We saw the Giant Christmas tree in Martin Place and we marvelled at the splendour of the Westin occupying No. 1 Martin Place, a Colonial GPO building that the GPO is still operating out of. The Fullerton must have borrowed the idea from here.

We found an Internet cafe opposite Central Station for me to update quidestveritas while June scouted ahead for other attractions. The cafe is run by a PRC and the other patrons are likewise mostly Chinese playing Chinese online games. We've certainly reached far and wide.

June spotted a Harry's Cafe de Wheels at the Capitol and we went to sample their world famous meat pie. We were too late. All the pies had already been sold out and they were closing in 10 minutes. We had to settle for the only thing they had left, a hot dog, but what a dog! A bun filled with a scoop of mashed potatoes, a scoop of mashed peas, a scoop of Mexican chilli con carne, a large sausage topped generously with ketchup, mustard and hot sauce. Everything was spilling out into the paper tray it came in, so the counter dude gave us a fork to eat it with.

The hot dog was just and appetizer. Tomorrow we're off to Harry's main branch early to get us a pie! Count on it!

Doh! Woke up later than expected. Began the day with an all-you-can-eat cereal and toast breakfast at the Kurrara. Our plan was to take the walking path to Leura but we detoured first to see the view from Honeymoon Lookout. I thought we needed the delay because the road to Leura didn't seem that long on the map. Uh huh.

The path along the cliff turned out to be less trodden than the trails at Echo Point. The path descended deep into the valley in places, then sloped up steeply in others, making the walking tougher than yesterday.

We took another detour to view Leura Cascades which though not spectacular, was a pretty sight. The path then took a steep turn up a flight of steps cut into the sandstone leading to Leura proper and the path to the Gordon Falls lookout.

Once we got into the town centre (3 hours from when we started walking) we wandered around looking at the candy store, the toy store, the many handicraft stores, the 2 Christmas stores (selling Christmas ornaments all year round), then June developed a craving for pasta.

Now, it's not easy to find pasta in Leura. It's a more Anglophile town than Katoomba which is practically cosmopolitan in comparison. Eateries in Leura do English-style pastries and teas but eventually we found the BonTon Cafe with a menu that fit the bill.

BonTon served up a thick organic vegetable soup almost broth-like in consistency. June had a delicious Seafood Spaghettinni with fresh mussels, scallops and perch; and I had a Rigatonni Arribiata with spicy pork sausage in a tomato sauce.

At lunch we checked our guide book and discovered that we were too late to catch the last train through the Zig Zag Railway at Lithgow so we had to scrap that idea. It was still early afternoon, nevertheless, so we took the train instead to Wentworth Falls just for a look-see of the village. Small, not very exciting, but like everything around here, friendly and welcoming.

We caught the train back to Katoomba eventually and since the sun was still shining brightly even though it was about 1730 we walked back to Echo Point to find the Giant Stairway which we had missed yesterday.

The Giant Stairway is a 900-step stair that descends a vertical cliff face to the bottom of the valley. No way we would have made it all the way down and back by nightfall -- it's a 2-hour trek for healthy walkers. We only went far enough to reach a rocky ledge cut into the 1st of the 3 Sisters. Just looking down from the ledge makes the knees wobbly, so high up we still were.

We made our painful climb back to Echo Point, hungry again. We found the Swiss Cottage on the way back to Kurrara. Here we ordered a thick tomato soup with garlic bread each and then because we were too full to down individual portions we split a saussicon vaudior (spicy pork sausage in homebaked pastry and rossti) and a banana split between the two of us.

The staff at the Swiss Cottage were very busy and yet very cordial, warm hosts. The blonde who attended to us (presumably Monique) was model-pretty and very charming, entertaining our meal-on-a-budget order. When the restaurant got too full, she even turned away other guests who were prepared to place a larger order than ours simply because we arrived first.

Wish I could have left a bigger tip but they didn't take credit cards [WARNING] so they took all the cash I had. I could only leave a 50 cent tip from the change I got back.

Staggered back to the Kurrara where today, it's too warm to light the fire.

One other thing about the Blue Mountains. Outside when it's warm, each one of us is issued with our personal cloud of houseflies who buzz around us and settle on us when they get tired. They literally make us feel like we're the centre of their little universe.

Leaving Blue Mountains for Sydney tomorrow. I will definitely come back here someday.