Can you believe it? My second time eating dim sum at the same restaurant with the same people in less than a week! It's M-i-L's birthday and we went back to Kia Hiang Gourmet for lunch to celebrate. No, I'm not really complaining, after all the food's good. The additional Peking Duck dish was a delish, though unhealthy, bonus. Sweet roast duck skin wrapped in a pancake skin with a sprig of spring onion (?) dipped in plum sauce. Only June could refuse this treat, adverse as she is to eating animal skins.

We also bought a durian cake from Angie's Choice. The cake was quickly devoured by the 8 of us around the table, and we gave a wedge to the friendly restaurant captain who paid our table so much attention. M-i-L blew out the single candle to mark the passing of another year.

Candles on cakes were once probably a test of a person's health as he or she aged. As long as the celebrant could blow out an increasing number of candles in one breath the person was still ok. Cutting the cake is probably the modern humane equivalent of making a thanksgiving animal sacrifice. Not a good idea to slaughter the pig on the dinner table these days. The guests will get their nice party clothes all messy and the floor will get all slippery, so a pretty confectionery would have to suffice. Easier to stick candles in it too.

M-i-L's birthday is within days of Mom's birthday. This year my sibs and I will be pooling resources to get her a much needed DVD player. They've really come down in price these days. I got a Sony one from Causeway Point for $159, a bargain considering my bro was thinking of a similar machine at closer to $200.

Now, I think a DVD movie would go well with Mom's new player. Hmm... wonder which movie would appeal to her and at the same time show what the new player is capable of...?

Someone was in a pink blouse in the staff room this morning. I thought I saw that blouse before and it wasn't on the person whom I remember was wearing it. One day last week Amy wore a surprising splash of colour compared to her usual modestly muted tones. It was a rather smart executive-style pink which made her look, um... happy. Today, however, Amy was flabbergasted that someone else was wearing the exact same blouse, someone who had earlier asked her where she got it from. I'm not certain of fashion etiquette amongst women, but it seems it isn't done that they buy and wear the same clothes as each other. Party in question: Mel. Good thing they didn't wear the same thing on the same day, else they just might have gone door-to-door hawking Avon products.

There was a lo hei session in the staff lounge. Interesting. Platters piled high with shredded lettuce, carrots, radish; bits of ginger, candied citron peel, crunchy things; pickled cucumbers; fresh pomelo with all the toppings and sauces. There was an ingredient conspicuously absent from the dish though -- fish. Apparently it's against regulations to serve raw food on campus in case people got the runs and sued the college, or worse, the Ministry. So we had a healthy lo salad instead, and to be honest, noone really missed the fish.

Spent the evening obsessing yet again over my yet-to-arrive M2. Found the official Japanese website for the M2, known in Japan as the "Demio." Apart from the regular versions, the Japanese have a Sports version and an ultra-feminine "Stardust Pink" version. The Demio also comes with a funky optional sun-roof which is not on our list of approved accessories here. Trust the Japanese to keep the fun stuff to themselves. Sigh.

Family lunch with the Wongs at Kia Hiang Gourmet, the Chinese restaurant in Sun Plaza. It's our annual family dim sum event with a marathon cheong fun eating session thrown in. I remembered how I was done in last year with deep-fried delicacies so I focused on the steamed stuff this year. The dishes were fresh and tasted quite refined. Unfortunately, my days of eating dim sum in quantity are quite over. I missed the crappy coffee-shop style chilli sauce that goes so well with har gow/siew mai; the chilli served here was too high class for my taste.

Wongs went on their second day of visitations while me and June stayed behind to catch Constantine. We had more than an hour to wait till showtime, so we wandered around the few open stores in the building to kill time. Eventually, we got bored of looking at toileteries and dollar-discount items. We were still too full for a coffee so we simply settled on a bench and watched a bunch of little kids abusing a coin-operated ride machine. Typical of kids -- play until cry. Kids are so predictable.

Constantine isn't a fun movie to watch per se. It's slow, methodical pace develops quite an interesting story taking licence from the Catholic mythos, but don't expect too much gleeful shoot-'em-up action. There is some, but it's not by gun nor by fist that Constantine saves the day, but rather by an appeal to a higher authority to resolve the situation; not the common approach for the run-of-the-mill action hero, but then Constantine is no ordinary hero. He smokes a lot and has terminal lung cancer as a result. His motivation comes from a selfish desire to "buy" his way into heaven, knowing that his ultimate destination is going to be The Other Place due to a mistake he made in his early life. A hero from the dark side, then.

Warning: the movie takes licence with the fundamentals of Christian belief, so if you are easily offended or confused this movie might not be for you. Else, be prepared for the kind of gritty storytelling from DC's adult line of comic books with its greater focus on human drama and experience than superhuman >pow< >biff< >bang<. In a way, it makes for meatier storytelling, but rates low on the fun index. Choice is yours.

The day passed without a lot of input from me. Just coasted over to the in-laws for a bit of lunch and gobble whatever I could of June's cookies while they were still obtainable. Watched Kung Fu Hustle on VCD. Sadly, it wasn't as funny as its trailer promised. We didn't bring Mimi back as she's still under 'treatment' at our place, but it felt strange being at my in-laws' and not having her around begging for tidbits and tummy-rubs.

When we got home in the mid-afternoon, we put phase 2 of Mimi's treatment in action. We took both Mimi and Q-tip for a long walk around Yishun Park. The park was quite deserted today so we took them off their leashes and let them just follow us as we trekked the jungle pathways. Idea was to tire Mimi out in the afternoon so that she would be able to sleep at night. There was an unexpected side effect, however. Both June and I were wiped out on the living room carpet in front of the TV for the rest of the afternoon. Went to my mom's a little late as a result.

Had lots of satay at mom's. Don't know where she got them from, but the sticks of beef and chicken were good and meaty; eaten with piles of onions, cucumbers and ketupat. And more of June's cookies. Over-ordered, as usual, and when we left there was still a number of sticks of satay left that we couldn't finish. OK, not exactly a traditional Chinese meal for CNY, but few stores are open today.

CNY: eat, sleep, give hongbao to younger cousins, nephews and nieces. And parents too. It's a whole different perspective after you're married.

Chinese New Year concert on campus probably isn't going to be as memorable as the breakfast after. 3 cars, 6 people running out to town for kaya toast at the original Killeny Road place. Unfortunately it was closed for the holiday. Decided to go to the nearby Dubliners instead.

Party comprised me & Boon Sin in Anthony's car, Tsui Wei in Vince's and Amy doing a self-drive. I was starving as I hadn't eaten in the morning, and presumably the others were too. Sadly, I had to forego the pork shoulder because reunion lunch with June's folks was in only a couple of hours. I contented myself with the fish fingers in chilli mayo, one of the lighter offerings on the menu.

Immediately after brekkie I scooted off for lunch. From my in-laws' place I picked up an unexpected bonus: Mimi, who has come to stay with us for another couple of days. It seems she has insomnia and as a result has been keeping the household awake at night with her barking for constant attention in the wee hours. We've been tasked with the job of training her back into her regular sleeping hours that are more acceptable to human habits, so we're hoping that our cats will keep her awake and occupied the whole day then she'll be properly tired at night and sleep like the rest of us. Once she's no longer insomniac we can return her to her proper habitat.

Abandoned all our animals to go to reunion dinner with my clan. The Peony Jade seems like a good place for reunion dinner -- especially during the second shift -- as the pacing is quite relaxed and the staff maintain their friendly demeanour throughout the 10-course meal, though they must be anxious themselves to go home to their own families. Food is pretty standard stuff. It was their ecologically unfriendly sharks fin soup that stands out for me as the most delicious dish of the evening. The bits floating around in the soup were chunky and gave the teeth something to do.

Nephew, Mark, had a reaction to the MSG, complaining of chest pains and facial numbness. His family took him to the hospital though, as we had predicted, his symptoms subsided while waiting to see the doctor. We guessed that Mark had been raised on healthy food since young and hasn't built much resistance against the introduction of unhealthy substances into his system. Unlike the rest of us.

We all adjourned to Mom's after dinner for loud conversation and June's cookies. Family chat till past midnight dosing on sugars and caffeine. Time for bed now... Happy New Year!

The world isn't a nice place; that's what one of my kids learned today. Leave your stuff lying about for long enough, when you come back something's going to be missing from it if you haven't taken proper precautions. Whoever it was who made my girl cry, I hope you have a dying mother for whom you bought medicine with your "takings." Poor kid's probably never going to be the same innocent from today, and what a loss that's going to be for the world.

Crime occurs because there is intent which follows through from opportunity. Intent cannot be prevented because that's trying to assert control over realms that we have no control over. What we do is control what we can control and that is, as far as possible, to reduce the opportunity. With half the equation gone, crime is unlikely to happen.

"Reducing the opportunity" simply means being responsible for what you have or what you are entrusted with. Don't leave stuff unattended. If for some reason you can't look after your own stuff for a while, get someone you trust to help you look after it while you're gone. In an ideal world, we needn't have to be this paranoid, but we do live in a nasty world so it's wiser to be careful than be sorry.

On another note, Mel, Pete and me finally sat down for a meal together. Scotts Picnic where we all had different versions of beef noodles. Wholesomely delicious, with rare broiled beef strips and beefballs in thick gravy and clear soup on the side.

Before that, we went to visit Tina first to sort out where we all were for Drama Night and what needed to be done from this point on. With Mel as den-mother, Pete as music director, Tina as drama coach, what's left for me is admin, finance and backstage (with Yee's help, of course). That means I really am Producer, a role I've never had to play before. It's going to be a stretch, especially since I'm removing myself a step away from the stage and handling overall management (I'm the Man now) but I can do it. I'm scared, but I've done various aspects of these duties before. I just need to pull them all together for this one performance, that's all. *Crosses fingers*

It's Gerald's son's 1st-month cum baptism celebration. The Dept went to lunch at his place to congratulate the new parents and see the kid. We pooled our cash together and with June's help got them some things that we thought might be useful for raising young Ed. It wasn't the plasma screen TV Gerald asked for but it was the best we could do.

This is the 2nd 1st-month celebration I attended in 2 days running. Last night I had dinner at my cousin Raph's house in honour of Rachel, my new niece. Guests included his dad's (my uncle) side of the family and his mom's side. The side I represented, though chronologically more advanced, is curiously devoid of children. Raph's mom's side brought in so many kids we had to be careful where we put our feet to avoid stepping on one or another of them.

What reasons might there be for the disparity? The common factor I observe is in the strength of the matriachal influence on the family. A strong female presence within the extended family unites the disparate members, forcing (in a nice way) siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts together to enjoy common family bonding activities. There is a sense of family support; multiple redundancies -- like the Internet which has rerouting capabilities through damaged parts of its network. There is security in the family community that will continue to provide support for its members even if something untoward should occur to a branch of the family tree.

Also, there is reassurance in being part of a larger whole. Everyone else one is emotionally and physically close to is already establishing a family and having kids, so it's all part of a natural process of family continuity that is easily taken for granted. One cannot have or raise kids in a vacuum.

My extended family is pretty close to each other too, but not THAT close. We've moved away from that kind of communal lifestyle and it's hard for me to imagine doing things like that again. We don't holiday together, or enjoy recreational activities together, or even eat together; we don't spend much of the week together, just perhaps 1 or 2 festival days a year apart from the occasional "hey, Kit's back from England, let's go have dinner," kind of thing. So the family bond is looser.

Having kids -- apart from by 'accident' -- is not really a matter of want or don't want. It's whether having new issue can be supported by one's larger social context. For an extended family group that is already strong and well-established, kids arrive as a matter of course. For family groups with weaker bonds, kids could drive the different members even further apart because the priority is not towards the family but rather towards looking after the individual's immediate interests. Skipping Grandma's birthday dinner because the brat has to go for Chinese tuition, say.

The Appalachian version is a bit extreme, but yes, it's family that breeds family. And having a tough old bird of a Matriarch helps too.

Edit 01:
Chew, my sales rep at Mazda is moving things along for me. He secured my COE bid this month so today I went back to see him again to complete my first payments for my M2. I wrote 4 cheques: 1 for the downpayment balance, 1 to the bank for my 1st installment, 1 to the insurance company for my annual premium, and 1 for the upgrading of the M2's fabric interior to leather. Chew told me my car has already arrived in port. Mazda will close over CNY then on reopening will take two weeks to get it ready to my specifications and by end Feb I should be able to drive it home. Hmm... what does 'expedited' mean?

Went to support the college team in the Debate Invites on campus. A number of colleges sent their 1st year teams to be blooded for the first time in the earliest inter-college tournament of the year.

For Vince, Anthony, Amy and me, we also took the opportunity to skip out between Shah's opening address and our team's first contest to have a leisurely breakfast at Ya Kun, J8. I wish Ya Kun would let us crack open our own eggs rather than serve them already swimming in a saucer at the collection point. It may be one form of quality control, ensuring the customer gets eggs done just right, but eggs cool off quickly like that and get yuckky if not immediately consumed. Still, I am amazed at the size of the egg yolks they serve -- big -- and the generosity of the butter slab that goes in between each slice of toast. Good stuff.

Back on campus we watched both our matches against Millennia and National. Must say we were lucky to beat Millennia. The adjudicator took great pains to thoroughly explain the faults of both teams and the debaters had a really good lesson in debating at competition level. We won not because we had a particularly strong or well-argued case but because we cast sufficient reasonable doubt on our opponent's. Though we fielded a stronger team against National, we didn't make it past them though we might have if we had more confidence of delivery, could think faster and had more passion and belief in what we were presenting.

1 win, 1 loss. Acceptable result, I suppose.

Yay! Took the M3 for a short drive back from GFC to college. It has a nice, quiet engine that you can barely hear even on ignition. Everyone was in a hurry to get back because of this or that reason so I took it into the parking lot where we all scrambled out and scattered to do our own things.

Tina's officially signed on to direct Drama Night, but it's still nerve wracking that it's already February and our script's still in process. We had to push our annual event back to the first week of May -- now just 3 months away -- and there's still little progress even in casting for roles yet. Tina's, of course, anxious and though I may not look it I am terribly concerned. Can we make our deadline? We started the year with very high ambitions but reality is staring us in the face again. Too much inertia, something's got to be done, but what?

Last year when we had problems in production, Cara talked to me and I could advise her being that I was the experienced one between the both of us. She was overall responsible and I could be calm, objective and I could see from the big picture perspective because I didn't have to deal with everyday reality. This year, Cara's gone, I'm taking responsibility, my vision is clouded with too many minute details, and I don't have an experienced person to turn to for guidance. At least, not on a day-to-day basis. I feel like I'm running things on my own and that sucks.

I don't know why exactly, but it looks like this year we drama advisers don't even seem to have time to talk to each other. I need someone around with whom I can just live, breathe and talk about Drama Night to help me keep focus, so like it or not, whatever time is at hand I will have to seek out the company of Mel and Pete a lot more often regardless of our schedules. Likewise, they will have to make time to hang out with me too. No 'meetings,' just breakfast and lunch. Everyday. Until we're so easy enough with each other we're tossing insults back and forth across the table and, sometimes, ideas too. Like it was last year.

Hope it isn't too late.

I am so pumped! Anthony and Amy thought they'd put me to the test today. When we drove out for lunch, Amy gave me the keys to her car and designated me the driver.

In a way, it was after talking through things with the two of them that I decided to get my own car. Anthony (voice of adventure) + Amy (voice of reason) = Mazda2. I guess you could say they're my car's Godparents. I still don't know what to call my car yet, don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, so I'll wait patiently a little longer until it is delivered.

Amy's Echo is easy to drive. Being small, it takes corners well and the steering is light. Acceleration isn't fantastic, a bit like the Getz, needing time to torque up before release. We, no, I drove to our favourite prata place at Rosyth. It's a reasonable distance from campus to take the Echo on a joyride, yet close enough to make it back for tutorial.

Anthony behaved himself and didn't try to be as distracting as he might have been with a more experienced driver. His restraint was a good thing 'cos there was little space to park except to parallel park in a pretty tight spot by my estimation. Haven't done any parallel parking since my driving test in, oh, 1990(?) but I did reasonably well today. A bit far from the kerb but it was an infrequently used side road so I didn't feel the need for perfection.

Lunch was Maggi mee goreng with a fried egg on top. The 3 of us ordered the same thing so no problems splitting the bill. I went with the "no chilli" option which I think was a good decision. Last time there was so much chilli my stomach was uh... volatile all day. Today, I could actually taste the mee goreng. Next time, I'll opt for "no ketchup" as well.

On arriving back in college, they really tested my parking. Amy chose the furthest lot in the tiny parking space by the running track. This involved me backing the Echo past 3 other parked cars before swinging butt-first into the lot. For the first time, I truly got the hang of coordinating eyes with hands with feet and disengaging brain. It worked. Not too much problem parking, though a bit close to the left kerb this time.

Small car I now have the confidence to handle. How about a bigger car: Anthony's Mazda3? If he'll let me drive it, we'll see, won't we?
.
.
.
I want my car, NOW!

Look what came in my mail today:

1 Bill from VISA showing a credit balance of $1.25, which means I overpaid my previous bill by this amount (this is a good thing).

1 Statement from HDB informing me how my monthly home payments are doing. I couldn't believe my eyes at first. Between June and me, our monthly loan repayment total should have put a healthy dent on our loan amount, yet on the final tally we've only repaid a little more than $4k over the last year. I looked again and came to the horrid realisation that my monthly contribution just barely covers the interest on our loan and it's June's contribution that's actually paying off our principal sum. Ouuuuuccccchhhh...!

1 copy of my Purchase Agreement with Mazda reminding me of yet another major monthly expense which in turn reminds me why I need a monthly paycheck for a long, long time yet to come.

O.o

Once in a while we need a reality check. 'nuff said.

It's that time of year again when June's all-consuming passion is to bake her own supplies of Chinese New Year cookies enough to distribute to both our families and to our colleagues as well. The pineapple filling has been cooking in the wok for more than a week already and it is almost dry enough to use. Today though, she's focusing on her corn flake cookies, trays and trays worth, and all molded by hand. Soon she'll be working on her peanut cookies and kuih makmur (link for info only; this isn't June's recipe), and I believe she has been experimenting with almond cookies this year too.

At this time of year she is at her most exhausted state, working her butt off to fill a pile of plastic containers full of her kitchen-baked goodness. Why does she do it? Because she's really good at it. And I'm not just saying it because I'm married to her. Just ask our families and our colleagues.

No, her cookies are not for sale in case you are wondering. They can only be given away free, gratis, limited quantities only. Maybe that's why they're so good?

Me? I've been working on a couple of documents detailing my strategy for helping my current batch of students get through their Term 1 Oral Presentations. They are a bit long to force anyone to read them in this blog, so download the texts from the links below if you're interested:
Stories Past & Present
Paul's Complicated Framework

We had to call in the professionals.

2 weeks ago, June decided she would strip off the solar film coating the inside of our windows 'cos she wanted a brighter house. Her first attempt was in the guest room where she started peeling the film off one shred at a time. The film is stuck on so tightly it takes quite some effort to remove and it really is slow going. Worse, the film leaves behind a nasty adhesive residue that opaques out the window even worse than ever. Undaunted, June used a rag and a bit of water to scrub each window clean of the gummy stuff, failing which she tried paint thinner which smudged the window worse than ever, then she enlisted my help and together we both ripped at the remaining windows in the guest room, followed by the windows in our living room. Once you start, you can't stop.

Ripping out the film is the fun part. Scrubbing the windows clean, that was the killer. All our household solvents were less help than the elbow grease we eventually resorted to. Before long, we developed serious blisters on nearly all our fingers and had to concede defeat. 5 panes completely clean, 1 pane semi-clean, 1 pane left untouched and 4 panes left in our bedroom also untouched. It took us close to a whole week to get this far. However, this wouldn't do for the new year. All the film had to go, and all the panes clean else it'll just look and feel half-done.

June found Window-Cool, a company that does solar shielding and today they came over to finish the job for us. The rep was quite impressed with what we had accomplished so far -- but at what cost, we asked, thinking of our poor, abused fingers. The pros had a bladed tool that easily stripped the film off without scratching the glass. Phase 2 involved a chemical solvent that they sprayed on the window which they then scraped clean with a smaller bladed tool and finally buffed with cloth. 5-and-a-half panes completely clean in 30 minutes. Casualties: none. Damage to wallet: $120. Should'a called them in earlier.

Took a walk on the Empress Place grounds having had an early breakfast and finding there was still time before service this morning. The Park is full of Botero sculptures all in their glorious reubenesque nudity. Yes, the unkind would say Botero sculptures are grotesquely obese, especially not representative of the "healthy lifestyle" we are supposed to be promoting here. It's as if the Sports Council people aren't talking to the Arts people and we're getting mixed signals from our authorities.

But there is something about the serene contentment, the revelry of fullness that exudes from the XXXXL figures. Their faces don't show much expression, but my impression is that they are happy. From "Adam" and "Eve" to the "Woman with cigarette" to (bow before my knowledge of Greek mythology -- I knew what the title was without looking at the plaque) "Leda and the swan" they are all in poses of rest and perhaps they serve as a reminder, in the middle of our busy cityscape, that it's ok to relax, it's ok to be contented, it's ok to be fat, um..., satisfied anyway.

To escape a bunch of evangelistic Falongong members who attempted to tell us how glorious it was to self-immolate in protest against repressive authoritarianism the first time we passed them, we detoured back to our service using a section of Nicoll Highway between the Esplanade and One Fullerton. June and I haven't walked this scenic stretch since our dating days, so a bit of nostalgia there.

Niece Joanne's birthday so after service we went to Kino, Taka to get her a book voucher. 9 years old, already a bookworm and media junkie. Aren't all first-borns like that?

For once in many moons my study is clear of junk. I can see the floor again! I can put my feet on my desk and not worry that things will topple over! You didn't need to know that, I'm sure.

Spent the whole day bagging very old correspondence, periodicals and other non-print resources, taking the committment to systematically dump every item I hadn't needed to use in more than a year, apart from just a few items of particular sentimental value -- gifts from students, friends and wife.

I trashed old PC magzines and their accompanying CD-ROMs, and I've sorted out all the PC games I'm no longer playing and replaced the disks with their manuals in their proper boxes, and now, I wonder, if anyone out there might want to inherit some old PC games from me? Let's see what I have...

Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
Freelancer
Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Silent Hill 3
Metal Gear Solid 2 (PC DVD-ROM version)
NFS: Underground
Half-Life: Blue Shift (requires Half-Life to play)
Doom 3 (tough decision, but motion sickness prevents me from playing this ever again)

All these games have given me a lot of joy at one time or another, so they deserve to have good homes now while current systems can still run them. Yeah, I'm offering all these games for free on a first chope first served basis, so leave a comment if you see something you want. I've also got some obscure old, old games as well. Inquire if interested.

With June's help the floor is clean, the sofa-bed and the bean-bag are wearing fresh upholstery, and the old animal hair-ridden carpet has been replaced with a brand new one. My desk and Watson have been wiped down and my bookshelf tidied. For a day's work, I think we did good. Now my study is in a fit state to receive guests at Chinese New Year. Don't forget to bring your hongbao!

Blogger is acting funny tonight. I can't seem to get in. Wonder if anyone else is having the same problem or if Watson's not feeling well again. For the last couple of days, Watson's 'net connection especially with blog-related sites has been very slow and it's been getting worse and worse. Hope the problem's with Blogger and not Watson. I can't afford to overhaul him as often as I did before.

I said I wanted to run GP classes according to my schedule, but that's becoming untenable given the little time we have that's quickly running out. Either that or I need to relook my schedule and decide if I'm conducting my course strictly on storytelling or if it's going to be geared towards group oral presentations because I really don't have time to make a smooth transition from one to the other.

Because of the upcoming competition, I'm rushing through my plan to practice the kids in storytelling. I'm cutting corners, burning bridges and the results, if today is anything to go by, are going to be a complete mess.

I tried to do too much today. First a brief narration of a childhood memory using a rough sketch of an object symbolic of the incident. Not to say that the 2 volunteers' stories were uninteresting. On the contrary, both speakers had quite harrowing childhood memories to relive with us. One recalled being robbed at GUNPOINT in her home on Christmas day, the other related quite a disastrous trip up Mt Ophir involving lots of painful accidents and spirit possessions for the different members of his climbing team.

We then had a very sketchy discussion of what qualities a good speaker and a good audience should have, then I distributed a bunch of hastily copied folktales to 6 workgroups and told them to prepare a group presentation inspired by a story of the groups' choice. I forgot that preparation for such a narration involving planning, teamwork and much rehearsal needed more time than the half-hour I allocated.

I had hoped (and I did tell them so) that they may use their imaginations and in the best possible way present their stories as a team, i.e., involving everyone as a presenter. I had expected a variety of formats -- press interview or talk-show involving the main characters, a debate disputing the "moral of the story," or a role-play or something. Everyone opted for the role-play (simplest option, right?). As a result,when the groups eventually presented, I had to concern myself with pointing out basic concepts of theatrical presentation and what I wanted to focus on -- group presentation dynamics, confidence building and speaking without relying on a written script -- went out the window.

I simply wanted to do too much today, did more than I had planned for, and diluted everything in the process. One step forward, two steps back. Oh, bugger.

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.