Despite the obvious anachronisms, we're hoping the sepia tone will creat the illusion of the not-too distant past, and that the audience will be forgiving...
Ah Seng's roadside stall c.1960
Sunday, May 07, 2006
PUS shoot this morning was just grand! I had a cooperative, enthu cast and crew taking scenes of a so-called 'traditional' business and its subsequent transformation into a corporate giant :P
Despite the obvious anachronisms, we're hoping the sepia tone will creat the illusion of the not-too distant past, and that the audience will be forgiving...
Ah Seng's roadside stall c.1960
Despite the obvious anachronisms, we're hoping the sepia tone will creat the illusion of the not-too distant past, and that the audience will be forgiving...
Ah Seng's roadside stall c.1960
If there's one thing this General Election has proven, it's that Singaporeans do not like change. Sure, everything changes around us: prices go up, buildings come down, policies cycle, the economy steamrolls on... but as long as we have a choice, we choose not to rock the boat.
As it was when Parliament dissolved this year, our governing authority today is back to status quo. The Ruling Party has all but the same 2 parliamentary seats, the 2 split between the same entrenched Opposition politicians that sat there just 14 days ago.
The Ruling Party may be autocratic, automatic, arrogant, above-all (and that's just the 'A's) but as far as we Singaporeans know, it's a formula that works, and we're not about to change a winning formula, are we?
Yes, the popular vote has risen quite a bit for the Opposition this time, but this only goes to show how adamant we are that our incumbent Opposition remain where they are, as they have been for years, and not lose out in a closely called face-off. We're not taking that chance.
In a world that is madly changing around us, Singaporeans are only too happy to grab onto something that they can ensure won't change, and that is how we are governed, warts and all. Heh, Democracy.
As it was when Parliament dissolved this year, our governing authority today is back to status quo. The Ruling Party has all but the same 2 parliamentary seats, the 2 split between the same entrenched Opposition politicians that sat there just 14 days ago.
The Ruling Party may be autocratic, automatic, arrogant, above-all (and that's just the 'A's) but as far as we Singaporeans know, it's a formula that works, and we're not about to change a winning formula, are we?
Yes, the popular vote has risen quite a bit for the Opposition this time, but this only goes to show how adamant we are that our incumbent Opposition remain where they are, as they have been for years, and not lose out in a closely called face-off. We're not taking that chance.
In a world that is madly changing around us, Singaporeans are only too happy to grab onto something that they can ensure won't change, and that is how we are governed, warts and all. Heh, Democracy.
NYeDC's Drama Night 06 was a generally tight script. Mel primarily wrote "Five Foot Way" as our SYF piece this year, meaning it was actually meant for about a half hour run. Drama Night usually runs a full hour, though, so tonight's script was an extended version, so to speak.
Set along a row of shophouses sometime in the 1960s, it focused on the friendship between 2 boys, 1 Malay and 1 Chinese, during the time of ethnic violence in our history. Despite the focus, the play was still mainly ensemble driven with everyone making the street come alive: Mrs Ang's kopi tiam all hustle and bustle, Sanjeev's bookstore and Cik Zu's mee rebus stall calm and easygoing.
I like the script for its local flavour, colloquialisms and all. Despite the heavy handed censorship from the SYF organizers the dialogue was still essentially recognizable street talk.
The cast was engaging, each character portrayed quite strongly, though certain stereotypes were hard to avoid. Fran, who played the beng went a little ott, looking for laughs that dulled his menacing quality a touch. 'deep played Sanjeev too conservatively, as did Zu; there were times the mike couldn't pick up their voices audibly enough. 'tilda's Geok is the most lighthearted character so she might have concentrated more on her innocence and fun-loving nature and less on being 8 years old.
Dory played Mrs Ang with lots of spit and bile, and it was nice that there was some attempt to explain her bigotted attitude, though it was just a throwaway line that the audience might have easily missed.
Des and 'mir work well together, both balancing each other nicely. Des' morose straight-man and 'mir's happy-go-lucky wiseass have the potential to be a great comedy couple, if they want to explore the pairing further.
Still, being an extended script, there were occasions when the dialogue got flabby and uncertain. Too many last minute changes that don't get rehearsed adequately will do that. The fight sequences were still rushed and the ending scene was strange because 2 characters are talking about a third character as if she wasn't there, and yet she is obviously sitting there in their plain view.
With the stage set and costumes and lighting and more rehearsals, tonight's production was a great improvement from when I previewed it last week. Some tweaks are going to be necessary to get it ready for the SYF, but not too many.
Set along a row of shophouses sometime in the 1960s, it focused on the friendship between 2 boys, 1 Malay and 1 Chinese, during the time of ethnic violence in our history. Despite the focus, the play was still mainly ensemble driven with everyone making the street come alive: Mrs Ang's kopi tiam all hustle and bustle, Sanjeev's bookstore and Cik Zu's mee rebus stall calm and easygoing.
I like the script for its local flavour, colloquialisms and all. Despite the heavy handed censorship from the SYF organizers the dialogue was still essentially recognizable street talk.
The cast was engaging, each character portrayed quite strongly, though certain stereotypes were hard to avoid. Fran, who played the beng went a little ott, looking for laughs that dulled his menacing quality a touch. 'deep played Sanjeev too conservatively, as did Zu; there were times the mike couldn't pick up their voices audibly enough. 'tilda's Geok is the most lighthearted character so she might have concentrated more on her innocence and fun-loving nature and less on being 8 years old.
Dory played Mrs Ang with lots of spit and bile, and it was nice that there was some attempt to explain her bigotted attitude, though it was just a throwaway line that the audience might have easily missed.
Des and 'mir work well together, both balancing each other nicely. Des' morose straight-man and 'mir's happy-go-lucky wiseass have the potential to be a great comedy couple, if they want to explore the pairing further.
Still, being an extended script, there were occasions when the dialogue got flabby and uncertain. Too many last minute changes that don't get rehearsed adequately will do that. The fight sequences were still rushed and the ending scene was strange because 2 characters are talking about a third character as if she wasn't there, and yet she is obviously sitting there in their plain view.
With the stage set and costumes and lighting and more rehearsals, tonight's production was a great improvement from when I previewed it last week. Some tweaks are going to be necessary to get it ready for the SYF, but not too many.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
This week has been running up to this morning's General Elections. The papers have been full of campaign goings-on and everyone seems excited about it. Even the students who are usually politically phobic have actually been animatedly talking about it during tutorials. Perhaps for once the democratic process appeared more real, more concrete than just lecture material.
June and I woke up early to cast our votes. Early morning means no crowds. Can't think of anything worse than spending an off day waiting in a long but orderly line guarded by policemen.
Despite all the precautions, there was at least 1 incident of human error at our polling station. After casting our votes, we exited into the parking lot only to be accosted by our elderly neighbour [he called me, "Ah Ti," which was quite gratifying; most people call me, "Uncle," these days] who was looking very puzzled and lost. Apparently, he had followed the wrong group of people and walked straight past the polling area and into the parking lot, still with his blank ballot in hand. June had to take him back inside the station and explain for him what had happened and get it all sorted out. One party or another very nearly lost an important vote there!
June and I woke up early to cast our votes. Early morning means no crowds. Can't think of anything worse than spending an off day waiting in a long but orderly line guarded by policemen.
Despite all the precautions, there was at least 1 incident of human error at our polling station. After casting our votes, we exited into the parking lot only to be accosted by our elderly neighbour [he called me, "Ah Ti," which was quite gratifying; most people call me, "Uncle," these days] who was looking very puzzled and lost. Apparently, he had followed the wrong group of people and walked straight past the polling area and into the parking lot, still with his blank ballot in hand. June had to take him back inside the station and explain for him what had happened and get it all sorted out. One party or another very nearly lost an important vote there!
Friday, May 05, 2006
PUS presenters want to shoot a video as part of their presentation. We've been storyboarding over a number of afternoons this week, and I'm glad they were sensible enough to cut down the number of scenes we have to shoot.
It's a good opportunity to activate the PUS resource team as well, making this activity the first one to actually give them something concrete to do for a change. Hope everyone got the message, though. Communication somehow isn't our strong suit. We're shooting on Sunday.
Tonight is actually NYeDC's Drama Night 06. Their first production since I left the club. But June had to work late again, so I had to switch tonight's tix for Saturday's instead. Bleh. I wanted to watch the debut performance, but I guess a 24-hour wait won't hurt too badly.
It's a good opportunity to activate the PUS resource team as well, making this activity the first one to actually give them something concrete to do for a change. Hope everyone got the message, though. Communication somehow isn't our strong suit. We're shooting on Sunday.
Tonight is actually NYeDC's Drama Night 06. Their first production since I left the club. But June had to work late again, so I had to switch tonight's tix for Saturday's instead. Bleh. I wanted to watch the debut performance, but I guess a 24-hour wait won't hurt too badly.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Still adjusting to our new schedules. Both June and I are keeping very late days. Work has just been crazy for her in her new job, quite different from her previous one. I am truly convinced now that dinner for 'normal' people here is at 9pm and that we have been living a blinkered, idyllic and unrealistic existence in the years prior to this one.
Such a schedule means being hungry at unusual times of the day; feeling tired often, having less recovery time these days than before; and sleeping late (I mean LATE) at night trying to squeeze in everything we had been accustomed to doing when we once had the whole evening to ourselves. It's a vicious cycle.
How do other working folks cope? Especially those with kids?
Such a schedule means being hungry at unusual times of the day; feeling tired often, having less recovery time these days than before; and sleeping late (I mean LATE) at night trying to squeeze in everything we had been accustomed to doing when we once had the whole evening to ourselves. It's a vicious cycle.
How do other working folks cope? Especially those with kids?
Friday, April 28, 2006
Such fine weather this afternoon. Took most advantage of it by driving out to ECP as soon as humanly possible after classes to rent a bike and get some sweating done. Our staff have begun a Friday morning jog-walk thing for exercise, but I need more space and better scenery to motivate me.
Discovered that where I thought the biking trail ended on the east side, it actually continued via a short detour through the walking track. It led to a part of the beach I'd never been before, and how gorgeous it was! A green grove lining the smooth cycling track, sandy beach and blue sky. Ok, golf course on the landward side with the occasional 747 marking the sky with its jet-trail, but other than that it was quite heavenly. It's a great 'blading track and I can't wait to go back again.
Got back to campus in the late afternoon to give fresh eyes to this year's Drama Night production on Mel's request. I'd been putting it off for a while, actually, knowing that sticking a hand in too early will only confuse the performers who would have had to listen to far too many directors. Today, the most I could help out with was in working out the steps in a couple of fight sequences; though choreographing stage combat isn't really my thing.
Since I was on campus anyway, I brought over my portable DVD viewer and a stack of assorted DVDs to keep the Council staff entertained while they're stuck at their induction camp for the newly elected Councillors over the long weekend. Hope it was enough to keep their morale up.
Discovered that where I thought the biking trail ended on the east side, it actually continued via a short detour through the walking track. It led to a part of the beach I'd never been before, and how gorgeous it was! A green grove lining the smooth cycling track, sandy beach and blue sky. Ok, golf course on the landward side with the occasional 747 marking the sky with its jet-trail, but other than that it was quite heavenly. It's a great 'blading track and I can't wait to go back again.
Got back to campus in the late afternoon to give fresh eyes to this year's Drama Night production on Mel's request. I'd been putting it off for a while, actually, knowing that sticking a hand in too early will only confuse the performers who would have had to listen to far too many directors. Today, the most I could help out with was in working out the steps in a couple of fight sequences; though choreographing stage combat isn't really my thing.
Since I was on campus anyway, I brought over my portable DVD viewer and a stack of assorted DVDs to keep the Council staff entertained while they're stuck at their induction camp for the newly elected Councillors over the long weekend. Hope it was enough to keep their morale up.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
I got off uncharacteristically early. It's the sense that the major stress points of the week no longer factor on my calendar, and the knowledge that a long weekend is coming up that after classes today I felt I could breathe a little easier. I had some admin to take care of for PUS at SR, then that was pretty much it. I'm on "standby" mode right now, enjoying it while I can. Maybe this weekend I'll take a look at the compre scripts I've accumulated and get round to actually marking them...
NY conneXions Dead-Tree Edition #2 is available from today! Limited stocks only! Get your more environmentally-friendly downloadable version here (.pdf, 1.6Mb)!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
2 big headaches have passed as of today. The presentation to the cluster heads is over, and the print version of NY conneX (#2) is in my hands, ready for distribution tomorrow.
If you had ever gone to visit your school's P when you were a kid, it usually meant that you were in trouble. It meant that you had been sent down to The Office and into the deepest dungeon lair of the scariest monster residing There, and probably never be seen again. That was in the 70's when I went to school, anyway.
Today, our presentation team had the prospect of facing 30 or so of these mythical creatures, but thankfully throughout the weeks we'd been preparing for our song-and-dance, the numbers eventually dwindled to today's final count of 6. Coincidentally, that was exactly the number of presenters in the team too. Pupil-teacher ratio of 1:1, then. Couldn't be more perfect.
It's good to find out that Ps these days aren't anything like the stuff phobias and nightmares are made of any longer. We had been preparing to be torn to shreds by a no-nonsense squad who would be critical and suspicious of whatever we said, being that they are busy people and would take a very dim view of other people who waste their time. Instead, our 6 guests were warm and cordial, interested in what we had to say (even though at points we tended to ramble off topic a bit), offered relevant views and opinions during discussion opportunities, tried their best to apply what materials we were feeding them, and most of all, they were appreciative of us.
While it may be true that doctors make the worst patients, I just discovered that these Ps made the best students I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. They genuinely came with the intention to learn from us, raw as we are in our attempts to apply some kind of critical thinking structure to our curriculum. Yes, that was the content of our presentation, if you must know.
Personally, I'm quite gratified that despite their earlier prejudices against Wallace + Gromit, they saw many uses for Nick Park's creations in their own schools after they watched a segment from "The Wrong Trousers" I screened for them as part of my presentation.
So that's over, more or less. Think it went quite decently well. Heh.
If you had ever gone to visit your school's P when you were a kid, it usually meant that you were in trouble. It meant that you had been sent down to The Office and into the deepest dungeon lair of the scariest monster residing There, and probably never be seen again. That was in the 70's when I went to school, anyway.
Today, our presentation team had the prospect of facing 30 or so of these mythical creatures, but thankfully throughout the weeks we'd been preparing for our song-and-dance, the numbers eventually dwindled to today's final count of 6. Coincidentally, that was exactly the number of presenters in the team too. Pupil-teacher ratio of 1:1, then. Couldn't be more perfect.
It's good to find out that Ps these days aren't anything like the stuff phobias and nightmares are made of any longer. We had been preparing to be torn to shreds by a no-nonsense squad who would be critical and suspicious of whatever we said, being that they are busy people and would take a very dim view of other people who waste their time. Instead, our 6 guests were warm and cordial, interested in what we had to say (even though at points we tended to ramble off topic a bit), offered relevant views and opinions during discussion opportunities, tried their best to apply what materials we were feeding them, and most of all, they were appreciative of us.
While it may be true that doctors make the worst patients, I just discovered that these Ps made the best students I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. They genuinely came with the intention to learn from us, raw as we are in our attempts to apply some kind of critical thinking structure to our curriculum. Yes, that was the content of our presentation, if you must know.
Personally, I'm quite gratified that despite their earlier prejudices against Wallace + Gromit, they saw many uses for Nick Park's creations in their own schools after they watched a segment from "The Wrong Trousers" I screened for them as part of my presentation.
So that's over, more or less. Think it went quite decently well. Heh.
Just finished reading Anthony McGowan's "Hellbent." It looks like a kid's book. I found it in the Young Adults' section of a Times Bookshop. It reads like a kid's book. It is full of juvenile, sophomoric toilet humour, and is overflowing with excruciatingly hideous idioms and similes only a 14-year-old boy could come up with, and only his scabby 14-year-old chums would chuckle at due to peer pressure.
The cover graphic is a simple looking label that reads, "WARNING: The most disgusting book you'll ever read." Now, that's really targeting a 14-year-old audience, and I had to go pick it up. And I couldn't put it down after that.
I don't know what the kiddies who persuaded their parents to buy this book think of it, but I think it's one of the most disturbing depictions of what hell is like without getting all religious and preachy about it.
In fact, McGowan looks at the concept of hell more from a philosophical point of view, examining arguments about the human condition, free will, existentialism, morality, justice, and the nature of hell itself: what it is, how it operates and how it devises specific torments particularly tailored to maximize the individual's misery with respect to the sins the individual is being punished for. McGowan is clear that in hell there is NO atonement, just unceasing eternal punishment.
The individual in question is a 16-year-old boy who is killed by an ice-cream truck(!) and goes to hell ostensibly for being a teenage prat. His personal hell is to spend eternity having nothing to do but read from a huge library of philosophy books and listen to nothing but classical music. He gets the idea that there must be someone else in hell who's suffering from the torments of having to play violent video games and listen to loud music for eternity. His quest then is to find this little corner of hell and trade places with its occupant so that even if they have to spend forever in hell, they would at least be doing things that they liked.
His journey through hell shows us hell's different facets, where every section and every district while being different in form from one another is the same, if not worse, in function -- causing pain, misery and suffering to the souls of the damned.
"Hellbent" doesn't seem like a cautionary tale. It doesn't really offer any tips about how to avoid going to hell, anyway. It doesn't say that hell is our inevitable end, either. What I think McGowan is getting at is that, mitigating circumstances notwithstanding, there are choices and there are consequences. Hell is only a consequence.
Which got me thinking along a similar thread to NBS some days ago: why is it that the decisions we make within our lifespan -- measured in mere decades -- should result in consequences that last throughout eternity? That doesn't seem all that fair, does it?
Parents, unless you want to spend lots of time answering difficult questions, or comforting your kiddies from their nightmares, I suggest you avoid buying this book as a bedtime story for junior. This might be a great text if you take KI though. Wanna borrow it, NBS?
The cover graphic is a simple looking label that reads, "WARNING: The most disgusting book you'll ever read." Now, that's really targeting a 14-year-old audience, and I had to go pick it up. And I couldn't put it down after that.
I don't know what the kiddies who persuaded their parents to buy this book think of it, but I think it's one of the most disturbing depictions of what hell is like without getting all religious and preachy about it.
In fact, McGowan looks at the concept of hell more from a philosophical point of view, examining arguments about the human condition, free will, existentialism, morality, justice, and the nature of hell itself: what it is, how it operates and how it devises specific torments particularly tailored to maximize the individual's misery with respect to the sins the individual is being punished for. McGowan is clear that in hell there is NO atonement, just unceasing eternal punishment.
The individual in question is a 16-year-old boy who is killed by an ice-cream truck(!) and goes to hell ostensibly for being a teenage prat. His personal hell is to spend eternity having nothing to do but read from a huge library of philosophy books and listen to nothing but classical music. He gets the idea that there must be someone else in hell who's suffering from the torments of having to play violent video games and listen to loud music for eternity. His quest then is to find this little corner of hell and trade places with its occupant so that even if they have to spend forever in hell, they would at least be doing things that they liked.
His journey through hell shows us hell's different facets, where every section and every district while being different in form from one another is the same, if not worse, in function -- causing pain, misery and suffering to the souls of the damned.
"Hellbent" doesn't seem like a cautionary tale. It doesn't really offer any tips about how to avoid going to hell, anyway. It doesn't say that hell is our inevitable end, either. What I think McGowan is getting at is that, mitigating circumstances notwithstanding, there are choices and there are consequences. Hell is only a consequence.
Which got me thinking along a similar thread to NBS some days ago: why is it that the decisions we make within our lifespan -- measured in mere decades -- should result in consequences that last throughout eternity? That doesn't seem all that fair, does it?
Parents, unless you want to spend lots of time answering difficult questions, or comforting your kiddies from their nightmares, I suggest you avoid buying this book as a bedtime story for junior. This might be a great text if you take KI though. Wanna borrow it, NBS?
Monday, April 24, 2006
Got an evening out with June, along with Amy, Dee, HP and Vince. At Amy's suggestion we got tix for Bush's Brain, a film documentary peek behind-the-scenes of the W Bush political campaign engine.
It was interesting to see the allegations made against Carl Rove, the person whom the documentary claims is the real "Brain" behind the President. For people who watch wrestling on TV, the Bush political team seems to behave like the teams that will do anything to grab championship belts and retain them at all cost. "The Four Horsemen" comes to mind, as does the now defunct "NWO." Tactics include misdirection, distraction, low blows, illegal tags, and in somehow spinning a drama for themselves or against the opposition not so much as to gain popular support but rather to cause the opposition to lose popular support.
Anyway, they play a dirty game in Washington. The documentary comes close to suggesting that W Bush becoming President is parallel to Mr Chee winning the elections and becoming PM instead of Mr Lee.
So here we have another Bush-bashing film, though not so sensational and spurious as Moore's Bowling for Columbine.
Went to the Dome at Bishan for an after movie snack. June's chili con carne was too salty and I thought the cream sauce for my mushroom pasta wasn't really cream but rather some cornstarch mixture. Blech. Maybe next time, we'll just order dessert here.
It was interesting to see the allegations made against Carl Rove, the person whom the documentary claims is the real "Brain" behind the President. For people who watch wrestling on TV, the Bush political team seems to behave like the teams that will do anything to grab championship belts and retain them at all cost. "The Four Horsemen" comes to mind, as does the now defunct "NWO." Tactics include misdirection, distraction, low blows, illegal tags, and in somehow spinning a drama for themselves or against the opposition not so much as to gain popular support but rather to cause the opposition to lose popular support.
Anyway, they play a dirty game in Washington. The documentary comes close to suggesting that W Bush becoming President is parallel to Mr Chee winning the elections and becoming PM instead of Mr Lee.
So here we have another Bush-bashing film, though not so sensational and spurious as Moore's Bowling for Columbine.
Went to the Dome at Bishan for an after movie snack. June's chili con carne was too salty and I thought the cream sauce for my mushroom pasta wasn't really cream but rather some cornstarch mixture. Blech. Maybe next time, we'll just order dessert here.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
I never did mention when June came back from her Philippines tour of duty, did I? Well, she arrived home Friday night having survived a trip that wasn't as bad as she had previously imagined. I think the choice of hotel and airline made a lot of difference in making her feel safer and more at ease with her surroundings.From the pix, I can tell she's happy to be home. And she's brought a bunch of hastily acquired souvenirs (mostly grocery items from a supermarket at prices she couldn't say, "no," to) back with her.
Wonder if this is going to be just the first of many overseas business trips for her? Apparently, there's plans for her to visit HK next, maybe in May.
My wife: a new member of the jet-set, accumulator of frequent-flyer mileage, bargain-basement shopper of souvenirs from strange and exotic locations. If I wasn't such a lazy-bum, gravid with couch-potato inertia, I'd actually be jealous.
As you can see from the missing entries, this has been one hell of a week. I don't think it's ever been this bad before, when the work has got the better of my time and attention. The long, late days; and even the slightly shorter days when I'm sitting in front of Watson wondering what else has been happening in my life apart from preparing for classes, NY conneX -- both on-line and print versions, the presentation we're giving the cluster bosses next week, oh, and the PUS as well.
It's not like all the work isn't fulfilling. I love everything I'm doing. It's that there's only so much lovin' this body can give within so short a time. If I could just focus on each task one at a time, I wouldn't be so stressed out. But having to deal with them all at once in the same week, it's like having an orgy with partners who are quite jealous of each other. Sorry, but there's only one of me and only so many orfices with which to keep everybody satisfied. Some are just going to feel slighted.
I shouldn't really complain so much. Gerald and the research kids have done a fab job on the PUS written report. The conneX 1st years have helped me lay out 50% of next week's print edition together -- a tremendous increase from the 0% of last ish. Deadlines are go for next Thursday's release, and I'm happy about that.
This evening I spent an hour as an invited guest at a 'top JC in Bishan.' It was the closing ceremony for this student-initiated-organized-run conference for youth, the idea of which was to bring all post-secondary institution kids together in an effort to understand and appreciate one another better.
I thought that was a brilliant idea, seeing as we keep stratifying and stereotyping people by their academic backgrounds. From the video clip of this overnight camp, the kids looked like they had great fun mixing with each other. My congrats to the organizer, who did what she set out to do. Determined girl, that young lady.
Hope the few KIds who went had fun too, and found some new friends from outside the college. Always good to keep expanding the horizon.
My Big Boss, the guest-of-honour, said as much in his address.
It was a closing ceremony full of technical problems: mikes that didn't amplify, equipment giving nasty feedback from some loose connection somewhere, the video clip soundtrack playing directly off the projector's pathetic little speakers, and even the stage draperies sagging. But that's the beauty of the event, isn't it? No 'professional' adult help to make things slick and smoothly run. A bit 'Kids Next Door' in improvisation, but there's the charm right there.
Hmmm... and Q-tip got groomed today. We found a fortuitous appointment slot for this afternoon, and of course, we took it. Trimmed her fur short. Now she no longer looks like the Abominable Snowball.
It's not like all the work isn't fulfilling. I love everything I'm doing. It's that there's only so much lovin' this body can give within so short a time. If I could just focus on each task one at a time, I wouldn't be so stressed out. But having to deal with them all at once in the same week, it's like having an orgy with partners who are quite jealous of each other. Sorry, but there's only one of me and only so many orfices with which to keep everybody satisfied. Some are just going to feel slighted.
I shouldn't really complain so much. Gerald and the research kids have done a fab job on the PUS written report. The conneX 1st years have helped me lay out 50% of next week's print edition together -- a tremendous increase from the 0% of last ish. Deadlines are go for next Thursday's release, and I'm happy about that.
This evening I spent an hour as an invited guest at a 'top JC in Bishan.' It was the closing ceremony for this student-initiated-organized-run conference for youth, the idea of which was to bring all post-secondary institution kids together in an effort to understand and appreciate one another better.
I thought that was a brilliant idea, seeing as we keep stratifying and stereotyping people by their academic backgrounds. From the video clip of this overnight camp, the kids looked like they had great fun mixing with each other. My congrats to the organizer, who did what she set out to do. Determined girl, that young lady.
Hope the few KIds who went had fun too, and found some new friends from outside the college. Always good to keep expanding the horizon.
My Big Boss, the guest-of-honour, said as much in his address.
It was a closing ceremony full of technical problems: mikes that didn't amplify, equipment giving nasty feedback from some loose connection somewhere, the video clip soundtrack playing directly off the projector's pathetic little speakers, and even the stage draperies sagging. But that's the beauty of the event, isn't it? No 'professional' adult help to make things slick and smoothly run. A bit 'Kids Next Door' in improvisation, but there's the charm right there.
Hmmm... and Q-tip got groomed today. We found a fortuitous appointment slot for this afternoon, and of course, we took it. Trimmed her fur short. Now she no longer looks like the Abominable Snowball.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Never expected this year to be so busy that there are days on which I don't even have time to update my blog. Partially, it's because I've been obsessing over NY conneX, spending every available waking moment looking out for possible stories to assign journalists to, getting story requests from people and groups, chasing up pix from whomever has a digi-cam, taking my own pix to supplement the photo pool, editing stories and now laying out pages for the PRINT edition scheduled for next week's release.
In all this mania, I'm glad that pretty much for once, I don't feel alone in my belief that I'm working on a good thing. The journalists are very supportive and have been faithfully collaborating with me in meeting their story deadlines and turning in coherent, quality writing; and now I've got them to help with the most tedious laying out of next week's print edition. With enough of such hands-on experience, they should soon be skillful enough to run the 'paper independently with enough passion to desire its continuity year after year.
In case I hadn't mentioned it earlier, Issue #10 is on-line for your perusal. Feel free!
Oh, and June's gone to Manila on business for the next couple of days. She just messaged to say that she's staying at the Shang and due to full occupancy of the suite she booked, they've given her a room upgrade. So now she's in this luxuriously large room full of everything she could possibly want, well, with the exception of me. No wonder she's still grouchy about this trip.
In other personal news...
Sunday evening: pot-luck dinner with paternal kinsfolk, June preparing bubur chacha for dessert and me putting down cash for some excellent take-away satay from Chim's Satay House.
Monday evening: Nothing exciting for dinner, no time for a good one, anyway.
Tuesday evening: Sakura Jap-Int'nl buffet, Toa Payoh. Amy's treat to Vince, HP and me in honour of her recent promotion. It's not exactly refined dining, but the food's generally quite good. Sashimi was fresh and though we focused on the salmon, the maguro and the swordfish were very tasty too. Made sure I had my fill of raw fish before attempting the other dishes in the 'international' section which was ok too. Thanks, Amy!
Today: Dinner at Punggol Nasi Lemak with Vince, Anthony and Wendy. Always good for deep fried chix wings and luncheon meat slices on fragrant rice anytime.
Great. Shouldn't be talking about food. Now I'm hungry again...
In all this mania, I'm glad that pretty much for once, I don't feel alone in my belief that I'm working on a good thing. The journalists are very supportive and have been faithfully collaborating with me in meeting their story deadlines and turning in coherent, quality writing; and now I've got them to help with the most tedious laying out of next week's print edition. With enough of such hands-on experience, they should soon be skillful enough to run the 'paper independently with enough passion to desire its continuity year after year.
In case I hadn't mentioned it earlier, Issue #10 is on-line for your perusal. Feel free!
Oh, and June's gone to Manila on business for the next couple of days. She just messaged to say that she's staying at the Shang and due to full occupancy of the suite she booked, they've given her a room upgrade. So now she's in this luxuriously large room full of everything she could possibly want, well, with the exception of me. No wonder she's still grouchy about this trip.
In other personal news...
Sunday evening: pot-luck dinner with paternal kinsfolk, June preparing bubur chacha for dessert and me putting down cash for some excellent take-away satay from Chim's Satay House.
Monday evening: Nothing exciting for dinner, no time for a good one, anyway.
Tuesday evening: Sakura Jap-Int'nl buffet, Toa Payoh. Amy's treat to Vince, HP and me in honour of her recent promotion. It's not exactly refined dining, but the food's generally quite good. Sashimi was fresh and though we focused on the salmon, the maguro and the swordfish were very tasty too. Made sure I had my fill of raw fish before attempting the other dishes in the 'international' section which was ok too. Thanks, Amy!
Today: Dinner at Punggol Nasi Lemak with Vince, Anthony and Wendy. Always good for deep fried chix wings and luncheon meat slices on fragrant rice anytime.
Great. Shouldn't be talking about food. Now I'm hungry again...
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Warming up with the rest of ODAC. Bike check, skill check, safety check... you get the picture.
These 2 blur queens rode all the way to Esplanade Park feeling very uncomfortable on their bikes. They thought someone had switched bikes with them when they weren't looking. Then they realised that they had somehow traded bikes with each other at the starting point. Duh.
Our reward for completing our objective: a Happy Meal (TM) and a weird anime thing-on-a-string.
We abandoned ODAC here. ODAC would continue cycling till morning, looping round NTU then heading back to ECP, our starting point. We're amazed to even have made it this far, and caught a cab back to Fort Road to collect M2. We dropped JY off, then made our sleepy way home. Zzzzz...
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Just came home from seeing Uncle Cham off at the crematorium.
We began the day early, collecting parents and SMA from their home to meet the rest of the clan at the Casket company. We had a short little service in our designated room, then went back down to street level where we trudged behind the hearse for a short distance as a sign of respect to the dearly departed. The sky above was full of gathering clouds and there was a light breeze behind us. Uncle Cham's favourite (Italian) opera music played softly from the hearse speakers and the whole scene felt like a John Woo movie sans any violent interruption.
There was another short service at the crematorium. 1st time I've visited the place. It's design is calming and tranquil, as it should be. Very clean environs, lots of running water and little goldfish (instead of huge, ungainly, koi) swimming in geometrically shaped pools. Immediately above the long escalator leading up from the basement parking lot is a skylight so if you raise you head a little while riding the escalator, it sort of gives the sensation of ascending into the heavens.
Our family has a light manner in dealing with funerals, but in this setting it was difficult not to be slightly moved. The service in the chapel room was... what's a word that suggests seriousness yet not quite sombre or solemn... reflective? But in the viewing gallery where we got to watch him take his last ride into the furnace, we played Puccini's 'Nessun Dorma*' on a portable stereo we brought and the music really brought out the drama and the finality of what we were witnessing, particularly as the furnace doors shut just at the crescendo, followed by silence for us to close our own psychological doors on another chapter in the history of our little clan.
After our last goodbyes, we made one more stop on the way out of the crematorium. A gathering/resting area where we refreshed ourselves and socialized once again. Made plans for dinner, reuniting us with our kin who flew in from Manchester (actually, Kit & family were already here on vacation when this unexpected turn of events occurred), London and Honolulu.
Life, as they say, goes on.
*BTW, this translates as "no one is to sleep." We played it because it was his favourite, not because there was any deep significance to the music. It just so happened to suit the occasion.
We began the day early, collecting parents and SMA from their home to meet the rest of the clan at the Casket company. We had a short little service in our designated room, then went back down to street level where we trudged behind the hearse for a short distance as a sign of respect to the dearly departed. The sky above was full of gathering clouds and there was a light breeze behind us. Uncle Cham's favourite (Italian) opera music played softly from the hearse speakers and the whole scene felt like a John Woo movie sans any violent interruption.
There was another short service at the crematorium. 1st time I've visited the place. It's design is calming and tranquil, as it should be. Very clean environs, lots of running water and little goldfish (instead of huge, ungainly, koi) swimming in geometrically shaped pools. Immediately above the long escalator leading up from the basement parking lot is a skylight so if you raise you head a little while riding the escalator, it sort of gives the sensation of ascending into the heavens.
Our family has a light manner in dealing with funerals, but in this setting it was difficult not to be slightly moved. The service in the chapel room was... what's a word that suggests seriousness yet not quite sombre or solemn... reflective? But in the viewing gallery where we got to watch him take his last ride into the furnace, we played Puccini's 'Nessun Dorma*' on a portable stereo we brought and the music really brought out the drama and the finality of what we were witnessing, particularly as the furnace doors shut just at the crescendo, followed by silence for us to close our own psychological doors on another chapter in the history of our little clan.
After our last goodbyes, we made one more stop on the way out of the crematorium. A gathering/resting area where we refreshed ourselves and socialized once again. Made plans for dinner, reuniting us with our kin who flew in from Manchester (actually, Kit & family were already here on vacation when this unexpected turn of events occurred), London and Honolulu.
Life, as they say, goes on.
*BTW, this translates as "no one is to sleep." We played it because it was his favourite, not because there was any deep significance to the music. It just so happened to suit the occasion.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
How much will it cost to maintain our current lifestyle till the age of 88? June's friend, Francis, looked at our financial state, did some number-crunching and came up with a figure close to $2mil -- and that's for after we retire in 20 years' time. The mind boggles.
Francis is a fund manager with the venerable American Insurance organization, so basically tonight's meeting at Swensen's, Yishun, was to formally agree to let him manage our money from now on. We're going for a medium risk portfolio that invests mostly in growth industries in the region, some in India and China, and a smattering in the emerging economies.
By his calculations, he's got 20 years to find us our $2mil. Brave guy.
Francis is a fund manager with the venerable American Insurance organization, so basically tonight's meeting at Swensen's, Yishun, was to formally agree to let him manage our money from now on. We're going for a medium risk portfolio that invests mostly in growth industries in the region, some in India and China, and a smattering in the emerging economies.
By his calculations, he's got 20 years to find us our $2mil. Brave guy.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Just came back from Uncle Cham's wake. We had a little informal service amongst us family members: some hymn singing alternating with prayers for his immediate family.
Myself, I haven't seen him for years. In my memory, he still looks like the guy in the photo the funeral home provided, but when I filed past to pay my last respects, he looked so much older, I couldn't recognise him at all. Guess that means that he lived to a ripe old age, and as most things go, that's about as good as it gets.
As it turns out, the family really does seem like it's moving on in years. We cousins who played so often with each other as kids back then... now we're in our 40s and 50s. Our parents are in their 70s and 80s and our oldest nephew is already in his mid-30s and has just broken the news of his impending wedding sometime this year.
We're visibly older and greying, and it's something I hadn't really noticed before until today. But we're also still smiling and the clan is still united.
Myself, I haven't seen him for years. In my memory, he still looks like the guy in the photo the funeral home provided, but when I filed past to pay my last respects, he looked so much older, I couldn't recognise him at all. Guess that means that he lived to a ripe old age, and as most things go, that's about as good as it gets.
As it turns out, the family really does seem like it's moving on in years. We cousins who played so often with each other as kids back then... now we're in our 40s and 50s. Our parents are in their 70s and 80s and our oldest nephew is already in his mid-30s and has just broken the news of his impending wedding sometime this year.
We're visibly older and greying, and it's something I hadn't really noticed before until today. But we're also still smiling and the clan is still united.
Monday, April 10, 2006
We're trying to get used to a new lifestyle at home. I don't get home till about 2000 hrs on some days, and June doesn't get home till about 2100 hrs on most days. This new job of hers is quite different from her previous one. The way I see it, her new job's more "normal" for working folks here in Singapore -- the high stakes, the high stress, the sleepless nights and the listless days (daze?). Her previous job was a dream in comparison, and I guess it couldn't last given the realities of our current economic situation.
It doesn't feel all that good for us to arrange to eat our dinners separately, but it's a better arrangement than getting gastric waiting for each other. But it's especially bad for Q-tip as she doesn't get to go out as much any more. She used to accompany us downstairs to dinner almost every night, but it's getting harder to bring her with us now that we would most likely have already eaten before coming home.
Wonder how the other more "normal" families with 2 working adults manage keeping these sorts of hours amd still have anything like a family life? That'll be something we're going to have to learn on the job.
It doesn't feel all that good for us to arrange to eat our dinners separately, but it's a better arrangement than getting gastric waiting for each other. But it's especially bad for Q-tip as she doesn't get to go out as much any more. She used to accompany us downstairs to dinner almost every night, but it's getting harder to bring her with us now that we would most likely have already eaten before coming home.
Wonder how the other more "normal" families with 2 working adults manage keeping these sorts of hours amd still have anything like a family life? That'll be something we're going to have to learn on the job.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Not much of an improvement from yesterday. Stuck at home due to a lack of imagination as to how to better spend my day. Resorted to getting a haircut and doing homework just to distract myself from some of the ennui setting in.
The haircut was scary -- I didn't have to sit in the chair long, and I noticed that my sheet didn't have the mass of wool it usually accumulates. Wonder if my haircuts are really worth $8 any more? I should ask for a discount next time.
Well, at least we took a drive out in the evening. Discovered that poor M2 got egged while he was sitting in the parking lot. The stains weren't recent but the presence of eggshell shrapnel around him and lodged in some of his crevices evidently point to a deliberate attempt to vandalize private property. May the perpetrator remember the number of eggs s/he wasted damaging my paintwork if ever faced with a famine of biblical proportions.
After spending nearly an hour at the car wash, we drove Mimi back home (she stayed with us over the weekend) then went to Causeway Point for dinner. Recognized a familiar voice, Cynth's. She was there with her 2 boys (her 3rd boy was running around looking for some electronic component at Courts) and domestic, fresh from a family visit to the zoo, she said.
Can't believe the weekend's over already.
The haircut was scary -- I didn't have to sit in the chair long, and I noticed that my sheet didn't have the mass of wool it usually accumulates. Wonder if my haircuts are really worth $8 any more? I should ask for a discount next time.
Well, at least we took a drive out in the evening. Discovered that poor M2 got egged while he was sitting in the parking lot. The stains weren't recent but the presence of eggshell shrapnel around him and lodged in some of his crevices evidently point to a deliberate attempt to vandalize private property. May the perpetrator remember the number of eggs s/he wasted damaging my paintwork if ever faced with a famine of biblical proportions.
After spending nearly an hour at the car wash, we drove Mimi back home (she stayed with us over the weekend) then went to Causeway Point for dinner. Recognized a familiar voice, Cynth's. She was there with her 2 boys (her 3rd boy was running around looking for some electronic component at Courts) and domestic, fresh from a family visit to the zoo, she said.
Can't believe the weekend's over already.
I don't know what to make of today. It was either perfectly wasted, or perfectly well-spent. Apart from a quick breakfast downstairs, we never made it out our front door again. Annie didn't have a grooming slot available for Q-tip, so our main reason for going out vanished.
Spent the rest of the day alternating between watching TV and dozing off. That's almost a prelude to retirement, eh? June, however, inspired by Anthony Bourdain in one of the programmes she caught, decided to busy herself in the kitchen making a pot of Thai rice noodles that we had for both lunch and dinner. So another reason to poke our heads out of doors today went up in smoke.
So now we're quite well rested (look at the time stamp for this post), but my urge to go out and do stuff remains unfulfilled...
Spent the rest of the day alternating between watching TV and dozing off. That's almost a prelude to retirement, eh? June, however, inspired by Anthony Bourdain in one of the programmes she caught, decided to busy herself in the kitchen making a pot of Thai rice noodles that we had for both lunch and dinner. So another reason to poke our heads out of doors today went up in smoke.
So now we're quite well rested (look at the time stamp for this post), but my urge to go out and do stuff remains unfulfilled...
Friday, April 07, 2006
Friday afternoon off is a luxury. And I fully exploited that luxury today. Drove out to ECP, strapped on my 'blades and felt the wind and the sun on my face. First time in a long while, it seems.
ECP is a more fun venue than Bish Park. It's like comparing the open road to a fish bowl. It's just a long stretch from end to end, and by the time you've covered that distance, you feel like it's quite some achievement already.
At ECP, I felt my quads cramping up quite early on my run. Sweat came earlier. My big toes started feeling numb after some time (and are still numb now) and I developed a 1cm wide blister on my right instep. All signs that my 'blades need adjustment for a better fit, or maybe I was pushing myself a bit harder than usual, being alone on the pathways today.
Being alone meant I could move faster, not worrying about anyone being left behind. I could take the slopes and not worry about my companion/s panicking and getting themselves or somebody else hurt halfway down.
But it's also fun to be with people you know, sharing the experience and maybe talking about it later. A shared memory between friends. At one point, I kinda' missed Anthony and his ability to pull people together at the drop of a hat. We've lost our party animal; and every organization needs one. Sigh.
But Amy and HP showed up later with their rented bikes. And about the same time, Vince called and asked if I wanted to go bowling. Hey, better late than never, eh? :)
ECP is a more fun venue than Bish Park. It's like comparing the open road to a fish bowl. It's just a long stretch from end to end, and by the time you've covered that distance, you feel like it's quite some achievement already.
At ECP, I felt my quads cramping up quite early on my run. Sweat came earlier. My big toes started feeling numb after some time (and are still numb now) and I developed a 1cm wide blister on my right instep. All signs that my 'blades need adjustment for a better fit, or maybe I was pushing myself a bit harder than usual, being alone on the pathways today.
Being alone meant I could move faster, not worrying about anyone being left behind. I could take the slopes and not worry about my companion/s panicking and getting themselves or somebody else hurt halfway down.
But it's also fun to be with people you know, sharing the experience and maybe talking about it later. A shared memory between friends. At one point, I kinda' missed Anthony and his ability to pull people together at the drop of a hat. We've lost our party animal; and every organization needs one. Sigh.
But Amy and HP showed up later with their rented bikes. And about the same time, Vince called and asked if I wanted to go bowling. Hey, better late than never, eh? :)
Thursday, April 06, 2006
We've seen the official scoresheet. Vince and I won outright, regardless of our handicap! The second placed team had exactly the same handicap as us, so we are the champs after all.
It might have been a different story if the bowling club members were allowed to partner each other, but as organizers they had to at least give non-bowlers a chance to win too. In that loophole, we had the advantage.
It might have been a different story if the bowling club members were allowed to partner each other, but as organizers they had to at least give non-bowlers a chance to win too. In that loophole, we had the advantage.
Vince and I are champs on the lanes this year! So happened we were the only 2 staff in competition, everyone else being somehow otherwise occupied, while we both cleared our schedules for this, our event of the year!
So Vince can finally say he has won a bowling tournament after 4? 5? years of on-campus competition.
What can I say? I bowled my usual competition score, averaging 142; Vince likewise, averaging 126, over 3 games each. I was quite amazed to score like I did, considering how many open frames I left per game, and how difficult it was getting strikes on my lanes. This game wasn't anything like our last practice, but I guess it was enough.
Of course, the non-bowling club members' most generous handicap helped our game a lot...
Oh, and we got interviewed by our campus-TV news rivals who wanted us to comment on staff participation in student-organized activities. Hope they caught my good side on camera!
So Vince can finally say he has won a bowling tournament after 4? 5? years of on-campus competition.
What can I say? I bowled my usual competition score, averaging 142; Vince likewise, averaging 126, over 3 games each. I was quite amazed to score like I did, considering how many open frames I left per game, and how difficult it was getting strikes on my lanes. This game wasn't anything like our last practice, but I guess it was enough.
Of course, the non-bowling club members' most generous handicap helped our game a lot...
Oh, and we got interviewed by our campus-TV news rivals who wanted us to comment on staff participation in student-organized activities. Hope they caught my good side on camera!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
I have made a complete fool of myself in public and my face has never been redder. I'm referring to my entry dated 2 April 2006 (below) confirming once and for all what a tightwad I am. And, oh, how gullible too.
I got myself all worked up over the 'neocharge' levied on loading Neopets pages, ya? Check the date again... yes, I must be the biggest April Fool to fall for a stunt Neopets makes a tradition of year after year. How violently I reacted too! You don't get that much emotion out of me easily, if you know me well enough.
Now to find a paper bag to put over my head...
I got myself all worked up over the 'neocharge' levied on loading Neopets pages, ya? Check the date again... yes, I must be the biggest April Fool to fall for a stunt Neopets makes a tradition of year after year. How violently I reacted too! You don't get that much emotion out of me easily, if you know me well enough.
Now to find a paper bag to put over my head...
Monday, April 03, 2006
Since I'm considering doing something potentially unethical with other people's blogs, in my own blog I'm seeking opinions on the matter before I make an irreversible decision.
The point of NY conneXions as conceived in its previous incarnation was to be the nexus of student dialogue and debate. It was, as I understand, meant to be a platform for students to comment on events, people, and items of interest to and about the college. That ideal hasn't changed, but since we linked the journal to the college server and insisted on improving the quality of our reporting (work-in-progress, trust me), and on being fair-but-positive in outlook, it's hard to get away from the idea that we've become the official mouthpiece for the admin rather than a discussion platform for our students.
To remind our students that they have a stake in this journal too, I decided to open up the writing of the Orientation 2 '06 experience to the general student body, asking them to submit the text of or links to their blog entries about it, but to date no one's sent anything for us to publish on the matter.
It's not that they haven't written anything on O2: just Google and a multitude of entries from a number of different bloggers pop up. So here's my problem...
There's such ample material out there, both positive and negative. I'm tempted to just 'kope' text from several J1 bloggers and stick them into the conneXions article just to 'force' contributions. I'll remove the links to the original blogs and we'll just do a little editing to keep the 'contributors' as anonymous as possible, though total anonymity will be impossible to maintain, of course.
I've already put together 4-5 pages worth of contributions and all I need do is upload them, and one way or another, all hell is probably going to break loose.
Do I really want to do that...? Advise, please...!
The point of NY conneXions as conceived in its previous incarnation was to be the nexus of student dialogue and debate. It was, as I understand, meant to be a platform for students to comment on events, people, and items of interest to and about the college. That ideal hasn't changed, but since we linked the journal to the college server and insisted on improving the quality of our reporting (work-in-progress, trust me), and on being fair-but-positive in outlook, it's hard to get away from the idea that we've become the official mouthpiece for the admin rather than a discussion platform for our students.
To remind our students that they have a stake in this journal too, I decided to open up the writing of the Orientation 2 '06 experience to the general student body, asking them to submit the text of or links to their blog entries about it, but to date no one's sent anything for us to publish on the matter.
It's not that they haven't written anything on O2: just Google and a multitude of entries from a number of different bloggers pop up. So here's my problem...
There's such ample material out there, both positive and negative. I'm tempted to just 'kope' text from several J1 bloggers and stick them into the conneXions article just to 'force' contributions. I'll remove the links to the original blogs and we'll just do a little editing to keep the 'contributors' as anonymous as possible, though total anonymity will be impossible to maintain, of course.
I've already put together 4-5 pages worth of contributions and all I need do is upload them, and one way or another, all hell is probably going to break loose.
Do I really want to do that...? Advise, please...!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Call me a skinflint, miser or cheapo nenek, but I have developed a serious aversion towards the Neopets site ever since they started this system that charged users neopoints (NP) for loading pages from their site. Get *free* omelette, pay 10NP; get *free* tombola dip, pay 10NP; get *free* uncertain blessing at Coltzan's Shrine, pay 10NP; you get the idea. Even reloading a previously visited page costs NP. Ridiculous!
There's this complex argument that inflation has gone so high, items have become unaffordable for the casual user, so they need a system that will remove NP from the economy to reduce this runaway inflation. Well, I am a casual user and with this system in place I don't even earn enough interest in my fixed deposit to cover what I usually do on the site in the first place -- which is to get *free* stuff!
Neopets says this system will reduce bandwidth usage on their ever popular site. It certainly has. I don't want to darken their doors again, even if I never feed my Wocky again.
I know it's just virtual money that's being drained, but in order to keep visiting Neopets I have to play the games just to earn NP so I can afford to keep visiting the site. That's not virtual time being wasted, it's MY time.
Sorry, Neopets. It's been fun, but if this system remains in place, it's adios amigo!
There's this complex argument that inflation has gone so high, items have become unaffordable for the casual user, so they need a system that will remove NP from the economy to reduce this runaway inflation. Well, I am a casual user and with this system in place I don't even earn enough interest in my fixed deposit to cover what I usually do on the site in the first place -- which is to get *free* stuff!
Neopets says this system will reduce bandwidth usage on their ever popular site. It certainly has. I don't want to darken their doors again, even if I never feed my Wocky again.
I know it's just virtual money that's being drained, but in order to keep visiting Neopets I have to play the games just to earn NP so I can afford to keep visiting the site. That's not virtual time being wasted, it's MY time.
Sorry, Neopets. It's been fun, but if this system remains in place, it's adios amigo!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Finally caught "V for Vendetta" with June. A very GP-ish movie asking the question, "Terrorist or freedom fighter?" Also, lots of questions dealing with justice, politics, religion, bio-ethics, the arts, and the media. Juicy!
June points out that this isn't essentially the action flick that the trailers promise, but I appreciate the slower pace that develops the plot layer by layer, revealing more and more of the mystery behind the dystopia the world has become for the characters in the movie.
The bomber, V, who models his appearance and ideals after Guy Fawkes is the lone voice daring enough to point out that the emperor has no clothes. Everyone else has been cowed and/or become disinterested by a monolithic, authoritarian, oppressive regime, where people "disappearing" after a late night visit by the police is almost routine.
In order to rile up the people out of their resignation, stupor and apathy, V first catches everyone's attention by blowing up the Old Bailey in London and then throws down a challenge. V names his next target, the Houses of Parliament; and the date, the next year's Guy Fawkes' night. To the authorities, it's "try-and-stop me;" to the people, it's a rallying cry for revolution against the incumbent government.
So begins a chain of events that V orchestrates. His vendetta is against those people in power who had literally made him the monster he has become. His call for revolution is in earnest, but his job, as he sees it, is to clear the way for the people to rouse themselves and reclaim for themselves the freedom taken from them by the High Chancellor's Nazi-like Norsefire Party, and not to do it for them.
V judges the people's will to act through Evey, whom he shelters when she inadvertently gets implicated in the Old Bailey attack. Through Evey, we catch glimpses of V's elaborate scheme to bring down the governemnt. Her response to V's activities mirrors the sentiments of the people who, though subdued, are far from the sheep the government takes them for.
Despite the effort the government puts on the political spin machine, the public sees right through the media and privately sneers at the whitewash. Emboldened by V, pockets of dissent rise in small acts by various individuals, each one building to encourage other acts that are increasingly daring. Even Gordon, a highly regarded late-night talk show host and a seeming member of the political elite reveals his own dissent in his final broadcast, a blatant parody of recent events featuring V making a complete laughingstock of the High Chancellor, and the viewing public makes no pretense to hide its laughter.
The plot places great importance on us getting to know the individual, mundane details of a number of characters' biographies. One of the characters only exists in flashback, but even her story is told if only as pencil scribblings on some toilet paper. The glaring ommission is V's own backstory. We never really know him apart from fragments of others' memories and inferences, though through an exquisite deception we will get to know him better than any of the other characters in the movie. As V proclaims, "Artists lie to expose the truth. Politicians lie to hide it."
In any case, V represents an idea, not a person. The people, though not sheep, feel alone in their dissent. It takes an immediately identifiable icon of utter audacity, to unite them in small, insignificant acts of rebellion. After all, compared to the complete and spectacular obliteration of a venerated public building, what is a little spray-can vandalism of a public poster by a kid wearing an identical mask to V's?
V, the bomber, sets things up so that he isn't the one to deliver the coup de grace on the Norsefire administration. That final act isn't for him. Change has to stem from the collective will of the people, not the will of a single idealist. The people themselves have to decide what they want, take action and wield People Power once again; and all V's efforts lead the people to this point.
Within a year, V lays down his challenge, instigates the people to play his game while making their way smooth and enacting his vengeance all at the same time. V fulfills all his promises by the end of the movie, but do the people do their part as well? Will they betray him in the end? No spoiler from me about that. Go watch this brilliant statement on ideas and people and politics to find out yourself.
"V for Vendetta" goes on my list of top movies for 2006.
June points out that this isn't essentially the action flick that the trailers promise, but I appreciate the slower pace that develops the plot layer by layer, revealing more and more of the mystery behind the dystopia the world has become for the characters in the movie.
The bomber, V, who models his appearance and ideals after Guy Fawkes is the lone voice daring enough to point out that the emperor has no clothes. Everyone else has been cowed and/or become disinterested by a monolithic, authoritarian, oppressive regime, where people "disappearing" after a late night visit by the police is almost routine.
In order to rile up the people out of their resignation, stupor and apathy, V first catches everyone's attention by blowing up the Old Bailey in London and then throws down a challenge. V names his next target, the Houses of Parliament; and the date, the next year's Guy Fawkes' night. To the authorities, it's "try-and-stop me;" to the people, it's a rallying cry for revolution against the incumbent government.
So begins a chain of events that V orchestrates. His vendetta is against those people in power who had literally made him the monster he has become. His call for revolution is in earnest, but his job, as he sees it, is to clear the way for the people to rouse themselves and reclaim for themselves the freedom taken from them by the High Chancellor's Nazi-like Norsefire Party, and not to do it for them.
V judges the people's will to act through Evey, whom he shelters when she inadvertently gets implicated in the Old Bailey attack. Through Evey, we catch glimpses of V's elaborate scheme to bring down the governemnt. Her response to V's activities mirrors the sentiments of the people who, though subdued, are far from the sheep the government takes them for.
Despite the effort the government puts on the political spin machine, the public sees right through the media and privately sneers at the whitewash. Emboldened by V, pockets of dissent rise in small acts by various individuals, each one building to encourage other acts that are increasingly daring. Even Gordon, a highly regarded late-night talk show host and a seeming member of the political elite reveals his own dissent in his final broadcast, a blatant parody of recent events featuring V making a complete laughingstock of the High Chancellor, and the viewing public makes no pretense to hide its laughter.
The plot places great importance on us getting to know the individual, mundane details of a number of characters' biographies. One of the characters only exists in flashback, but even her story is told if only as pencil scribblings on some toilet paper. The glaring ommission is V's own backstory. We never really know him apart from fragments of others' memories and inferences, though through an exquisite deception we will get to know him better than any of the other characters in the movie. As V proclaims, "Artists lie to expose the truth. Politicians lie to hide it."
In any case, V represents an idea, not a person. The people, though not sheep, feel alone in their dissent. It takes an immediately identifiable icon of utter audacity, to unite them in small, insignificant acts of rebellion. After all, compared to the complete and spectacular obliteration of a venerated public building, what is a little spray-can vandalism of a public poster by a kid wearing an identical mask to V's?
V, the bomber, sets things up so that he isn't the one to deliver the coup de grace on the Norsefire administration. That final act isn't for him. Change has to stem from the collective will of the people, not the will of a single idealist. The people themselves have to decide what they want, take action and wield People Power once again; and all V's efforts lead the people to this point.
Within a year, V lays down his challenge, instigates the people to play his game while making their way smooth and enacting his vengeance all at the same time. V fulfills all his promises by the end of the movie, but do the people do their part as well? Will they betray him in the end? No spoiler from me about that. Go watch this brilliant statement on ideas and people and politics to find out yourself.
"V for Vendetta" goes on my list of top movies for 2006.
Got to drive the Swift back to college after lunch. Being used to M2, I was extra careful in handling an unfamiliar car, and may have driven a little slower than the cars behind me would have liked. The Swift takes some getting used to, being that it seems to have been designed for someone more compact than me to drive comfortably. It's probably because I didn't bother to adjust the seat to suit my bulk (I didn't have time to customize the configuration properly), that's why the ride back felt like quite a tight fit.
Everything about the Swift has a lighter touch than M2; the steering, the cornering, even the hand-brake came up so smoothly with minimal application of strength. Nice touches, but I feel too oafish to handle such refinement for long with confidence. I know it's just illusory, but I was afraid bits of the Swift would come off in my hands as I grappled with them, the way I do with M2. Fortunately, I left it in one piece back at the campus parking lot for Amy to reclaim later, after her lunch with HP and Vince.
In the late afternoon-evening, I rediscovered bowling in Hougang with Vince. After a frantic week searching for a fellow Pegasii to partner me in next week's college bowling challenge, today I got the news that staff do not have to pair up by House any longer. Staff form the 'Open' category and compete directly against the students.
We needed to at least try out the lanes at our competition venue, so Starbowl Hougang it was. It's very easy to throw strikes here. The pins fall quite easily. The lanes seem to favour the straight-down-the-middle kind of balls, so I should have a slight advantage. But from an 8-game series, my score tended to fluctuate between the mid-120s right up to the 190s, but the frustrating thing was that I couldn't string 3 solid games together for a decent 3-game total score. That would be crucial to doing well next week.
Next, I need to go register us for the tournament... hope there're still some slots left.
Everything about the Swift has a lighter touch than M2; the steering, the cornering, even the hand-brake came up so smoothly with minimal application of strength. Nice touches, but I feel too oafish to handle such refinement for long with confidence. I know it's just illusory, but I was afraid bits of the Swift would come off in my hands as I grappled with them, the way I do with M2. Fortunately, I left it in one piece back at the campus parking lot for Amy to reclaim later, after her lunch with HP and Vince.
In the late afternoon-evening, I rediscovered bowling in Hougang with Vince. After a frantic week searching for a fellow Pegasii to partner me in next week's college bowling challenge, today I got the news that staff do not have to pair up by House any longer. Staff form the 'Open' category and compete directly against the students.
We needed to at least try out the lanes at our competition venue, so Starbowl Hougang it was. It's very easy to throw strikes here. The pins fall quite easily. The lanes seem to favour the straight-down-the-middle kind of balls, so I should have a slight advantage. But from an 8-game series, my score tended to fluctuate between the mid-120s right up to the 190s, but the frustrating thing was that I couldn't string 3 solid games together for a decent 3-game total score. That would be crucial to doing well next week.
Next, I need to go register us for the tournament... hope there're still some slots left.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Whole college staff attended a course on "Brain Based Learning." Do a Google search on this phrase, and a lot of material pops up on it.
From what I gather, it's a theory about understanding how the brain functions, then tailoring the learning experience for our students accordingly. In this way, we take advantage of the brain's own workings in order to maximize the amount of stuff our students can absorb in every lesson and retain over the long term.
It sounds like a useful idea, after all, if we could apply such techniques to creating learning strategies that our students can use for better results, then by all means, y'know. But a theory like this one -- which is apparently still in its experimental stages -- requires a full course-load to appreciate and understand. We compressed it down to about 4 hours yesterday afternoon, and it felt like something got lost in the translation.
It didn't help that the delivery by the instructor was supposed to be the model we were meant to follow in our own lessons.
The session involved lots of quick personal discussions about the little bite-sized chunks of info he presented. There was lots of movement -- he constantly moved around the room while expounding nibblet after nibblet of wisdom; and he constantly got us to move around as well, moving with our chairs from table to open space, while changing partners for our little discussions. These discussions were supposed to allow students to check each other's comprehension and recall of the lesson material so far, and correct as necessary. And they were frequent.
He taught us to give our usually complex instructions one-at-a-time so that there would be no confusion amongst the students as to what was expected of them, and would willingly comply because there was no ambiguity in each instruction whatsoever. He taught us to say, "thank you," to our discussion partner for sharing and to celebrate with enthusiastic applause anyone's contribution to the larger group.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Then why did I feel throughout the session likeI was being treated like a kid with attention deficit syndrome? And why did I feel that I was being exhorted to treat my students similarly, like complete idiots who can't even tie their own shoelaces? And why did the idea of dishing out step-by-step instructions make me feel like a psycho with control issues?
Maybe I'm just old-school after all. I'm used to learning from long, quiet stretches reading from dusty old books with minimal yakkity-yak from anyone else around me. I don't have the attention span of someone who was raised by Sesame Street as a toddler and prefers to surf the 'net rather than search for answers in real life.
Well, maybe that's how it's going to have to be for this generation's bunch of learners. The Americans seem to favour it, anyway. Wonder why?
From what I gather, it's a theory about understanding how the brain functions, then tailoring the learning experience for our students accordingly. In this way, we take advantage of the brain's own workings in order to maximize the amount of stuff our students can absorb in every lesson and retain over the long term.
It sounds like a useful idea, after all, if we could apply such techniques to creating learning strategies that our students can use for better results, then by all means, y'know. But a theory like this one -- which is apparently still in its experimental stages -- requires a full course-load to appreciate and understand. We compressed it down to about 4 hours yesterday afternoon, and it felt like something got lost in the translation.
It didn't help that the delivery by the instructor was supposed to be the model we were meant to follow in our own lessons.
The session involved lots of quick personal discussions about the little bite-sized chunks of info he presented. There was lots of movement -- he constantly moved around the room while expounding nibblet after nibblet of wisdom; and he constantly got us to move around as well, moving with our chairs from table to open space, while changing partners for our little discussions. These discussions were supposed to allow students to check each other's comprehension and recall of the lesson material so far, and correct as necessary. And they were frequent.
He taught us to give our usually complex instructions one-at-a-time so that there would be no confusion amongst the students as to what was expected of them, and would willingly comply because there was no ambiguity in each instruction whatsoever. He taught us to say, "thank you," to our discussion partner for sharing and to celebrate with enthusiastic applause anyone's contribution to the larger group.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Then why did I feel throughout the session likeI was being treated like a kid with attention deficit syndrome? And why did I feel that I was being exhorted to treat my students similarly, like complete idiots who can't even tie their own shoelaces? And why did the idea of dishing out step-by-step instructions make me feel like a psycho with control issues?
Maybe I'm just old-school after all. I'm used to learning from long, quiet stretches reading from dusty old books with minimal yakkity-yak from anyone else around me. I don't have the attention span of someone who was raised by Sesame Street as a toddler and prefers to surf the 'net rather than search for answers in real life.
Well, maybe that's how it's going to have to be for this generation's bunch of learners. The Americans seem to favour it, anyway. Wonder why?
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Yesterday was my first meeting with the PUS kids as a full group. Between Gerald and me, we've to decide how to allocate specific tasks to them based on how they auditioned. Some kids naturally fit into their roles, but the others aren't so clear. We'll be scratching our heads over those kids for a while.
So tired last night, I fell asleep watching House on AXN. Even the nasty doctor's barbs couldn't keep me awake long enough to find out whether a young man's multiple system failure was caused by his fiancee's insatiable sexual appetite or not.
Today was likewise another long day. Met the J1 Journalism kids at the production meeting. They seem a bit wary of their surroundings for the moment; but once we really throw them in the deep end they'll start getting comfortable and learn to swim, I hope. One J1 proposed to write a regular column on PC/console game reviews -- a dream come true for me! Hope the others find a niche for themselves soon.
Couldn't stay to share pizza with them. Had to run off for in-line 'blading lessons which the College arranged for interested kids. Why do I need lessons? Because there are certain skills -- like the crossover -- that I require more basic training in before I can execute them. In a way, I learned to run before I learned to walk. Now I'm taking remedial classes.
So tired last night, I fell asleep watching House on AXN. Even the nasty doctor's barbs couldn't keep me awake long enough to find out whether a young man's multiple system failure was caused by his fiancee's insatiable sexual appetite or not.
Today was likewise another long day. Met the J1 Journalism kids at the production meeting. They seem a bit wary of their surroundings for the moment; but once we really throw them in the deep end they'll start getting comfortable and learn to swim, I hope. One J1 proposed to write a regular column on PC/console game reviews -- a dream come true for me! Hope the others find a niche for themselves soon.
Couldn't stay to share pizza with them. Had to run off for in-line 'blading lessons which the College arranged for interested kids. Why do I need lessons? Because there are certain skills -- like the crossover -- that I require more basic training in before I can execute them. In a way, I learned to run before I learned to walk. Now I'm taking remedial classes.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Good evening, everyone. My name is Xmac and I have something to confess. I'm a teacher, and I blog.
The Sunday Times today asks, "Should teachers blog?" I take exception to being singled out for my profession and being questioned for my decision to post my scribblings on-line. The first concern ST puts forward is that it might be psychologically damaging for students to read what their teachers actually think about them. Second is that teachers can get into trouble with the Ministry if they grouse about their work, colleagues and school environment.
The latter arguments could be applied to anyone else in any other profession as well. People in other industries have been fired before, so we've learned to be a bit more circumspect airing our views in the public arena, just in case. Hence, the bland, politically correct points of view I've been putting forth here. Score one for perhaps over-cautious self-censorship, zero for being a sensational, attention-grabbing, audience-attracting sponsorship magnet that will allow me to give up my day job.
The first concern -- about fracturing students' delicate egos -- is a little tougher to address. It really depends on our motivation for blogging. If it's just a carthartic release from stresses at work, then a teacher sending mixed signals in person and on a blog means that neither message has the credibility to be taken seriously. Both messages stem from masks that the teacher wears: suppressed emotion in person, vented emotion on-line, and neither are reflections of honest, reflective thought.
Venomous words can and do sting, but the difference in blogging is that people go looking through search engines for things other people say about them, and when they find unpleasantness they get upset. Isn't that asking for trouble in the first place? Our students need to learn to take honest criticism, but they also have to learn to discern which critique to take with a pinch of salt too.
The other motivation for teachers' blogs is to communicate with their students directly on-line, where everybody 'lives' in the same community as equals. These blogs aren't just random rants about anything and anyone in particular, but they are about reaching out to students with reminders, nags, advice or concerns; establishing a platform for sharing common resource materials; or even showing students that their teachers are human too and that they do have a life after school.
To say that teachers should or should not blog is asking a nonsense question. You could substitute "teacher" with any other profession, and you'd get the same nonsense answer. Blogging isn't a matter of "should/not," it's more a choice of what we do with the technology available, for whichever audience we have chosen to address.
Words can build up or they can tear down. I hope I've been doing more of the former than the latter here for my visitors. That is my choice.
The Sunday Times today asks, "Should teachers blog?" I take exception to being singled out for my profession and being questioned for my decision to post my scribblings on-line. The first concern ST puts forward is that it might be psychologically damaging for students to read what their teachers actually think about them. Second is that teachers can get into trouble with the Ministry if they grouse about their work, colleagues and school environment.
The latter arguments could be applied to anyone else in any other profession as well. People in other industries have been fired before, so we've learned to be a bit more circumspect airing our views in the public arena, just in case. Hence, the bland, politically correct points of view I've been putting forth here. Score one for perhaps over-cautious self-censorship, zero for being a sensational, attention-grabbing, audience-attracting sponsorship magnet that will allow me to give up my day job.
The first concern -- about fracturing students' delicate egos -- is a little tougher to address. It really depends on our motivation for blogging. If it's just a carthartic release from stresses at work, then a teacher sending mixed signals in person and on a blog means that neither message has the credibility to be taken seriously. Both messages stem from masks that the teacher wears: suppressed emotion in person, vented emotion on-line, and neither are reflections of honest, reflective thought.
Venomous words can and do sting, but the difference in blogging is that people go looking through search engines for things other people say about them, and when they find unpleasantness they get upset. Isn't that asking for trouble in the first place? Our students need to learn to take honest criticism, but they also have to learn to discern which critique to take with a pinch of salt too.
The other motivation for teachers' blogs is to communicate with their students directly on-line, where everybody 'lives' in the same community as equals. These blogs aren't just random rants about anything and anyone in particular, but they are about reaching out to students with reminders, nags, advice or concerns; establishing a platform for sharing common resource materials; or even showing students that their teachers are human too and that they do have a life after school.
To say that teachers should or should not blog is asking a nonsense question. You could substitute "teacher" with any other profession, and you'd get the same nonsense answer. Blogging isn't a matter of "should/not," it's more a choice of what we do with the technology available, for whichever audience we have chosen to address.
Words can build up or they can tear down. I hope I've been doing more of the former than the latter here for my visitors. That is my choice.
June's taken a fancy to visiting Hokkaido in the summer. Apparently, there are vast fields of lavender and sunflowers to admire, and the seafood couldn't get any fresher. So it was off to the NATAS fair for us to see what packages were on offer.
We started out looking at group tour packages. Groups are about 20-30 strong, and being sociable with so many fellow holiday-makers for the entire trip didn't appeal to us at all. It wasn't that our Korean tour of '03 was such a terrible experience; it was just inflexible and we couldn't be independent of the group at all. It was only when we extended our tour for another 2-3 days in Seoul that we felt like we'd escaped the herd and we were free to waste our time and money on whatever we ourselves wanted, rather than on stuff the tour organization decided we should.
From our initial research today, we got bolder and started asking around for free-and-easy tours instead. But the tour operators showed us how expensive such expeditions could be, simply because we couldn't get bulk discounts.
There was a section of the travel fair that caught our attention. 2 huge video walls screening sights from Hokkaido. The organization doing the screening ran a fly & drive tour, i.e., fly there, pick up a rental Toyota, drive yourself around Hokkaido aiming to arrive at the designated hotel for the day by nightfall.
There are recommended stops between hotels but because it's a self-drive tour, we can pick and choose which locations to dally at, which to skip or even run off on our own if we knew of some other place that would capture our interest more. Howzzat for flexibility? Well, apart from having to make it to the right hotel to sleep in at night, that is.
One of the rental cars on offer is the Toyota Prius, 1.5l hybrid, running at 35.5km/l, with on-board GPS nav system. Sweet! And accommodation is entirely 5-star including meals and most have a hot spa facility free for guest usage. Wow.
The cost at Twin rates: $2888 for EACH of us, which is steep. But if we went Dutch, though still a pinch, is barely affordable. Then we discussed the package some more with one of the guides for this tour who clarified that there are other expenses such as gas, parking, tolls, entrance fees, lunch, etc., that aren't covered in the packaged rate. A more realistic cost figure would be closer to $4-5K each. And we're like, "oh...!"
Pity. Maybe if we saved on going anywhere this year, we might consider this package again next year. Meantime, I know June's still searching for better options...
We started out looking at group tour packages. Groups are about 20-30 strong, and being sociable with so many fellow holiday-makers for the entire trip didn't appeal to us at all. It wasn't that our Korean tour of '03 was such a terrible experience; it was just inflexible and we couldn't be independent of the group at all. It was only when we extended our tour for another 2-3 days in Seoul that we felt like we'd escaped the herd and we were free to waste our time and money on whatever we ourselves wanted, rather than on stuff the tour organization decided we should.
From our initial research today, we got bolder and started asking around for free-and-easy tours instead. But the tour operators showed us how expensive such expeditions could be, simply because we couldn't get bulk discounts.
There was a section of the travel fair that caught our attention. 2 huge video walls screening sights from Hokkaido. The organization doing the screening ran a fly & drive tour, i.e., fly there, pick up a rental Toyota, drive yourself around Hokkaido aiming to arrive at the designated hotel for the day by nightfall.
There are recommended stops between hotels but because it's a self-drive tour, we can pick and choose which locations to dally at, which to skip or even run off on our own if we knew of some other place that would capture our interest more. Howzzat for flexibility? Well, apart from having to make it to the right hotel to sleep in at night, that is.
One of the rental cars on offer is the Toyota Prius, 1.5l hybrid, running at 35.5km/l, with on-board GPS nav system. Sweet! And accommodation is entirely 5-star including meals and most have a hot spa facility free for guest usage. Wow.
The cost at Twin rates: $2888 for EACH of us, which is steep. But if we went Dutch, though still a pinch, is barely affordable. Then we discussed the package some more with one of the guides for this tour who clarified that there are other expenses such as gas, parking, tolls, entrance fees, lunch, etc., that aren't covered in the packaged rate. A more realistic cost figure would be closer to $4-5K each. And we're like, "oh...!"
Pity. Maybe if we saved on going anywhere this year, we might consider this package again next year. Meantime, I know June's still searching for better options...
Saturday, March 25, 2006
June and I met JY, Tonn and Thad at ECP. Bicycle rental for me and the 2 girls, the guys 'bladed. We covered pretty much the entire stretch of beach on either side of the McD's, about 2 hours of cardio-vascular activity for us.
Put all the calories lost back with interest at lunchtime. Went to Swenson's at Parkway Parade where I ordered the unhealthiest-looking thing on the menu: the Cheesy Beef Burger. But it was the first time I have gone into a Swensons and left without ordering ice-cream. Dessert we saved for New Zealand Natural: mocha almond fudge+walnut butterscotch for me, and chocolate ecstacy+vanilla classic for June. Mmm...
M-i-L signed Q-tip and Mimi up for a "Dog Parade contest" at this RC block party in Toa Payoh this evening. The programme involved some karaoke items, a balloon artist, and us, the canine celebrities of the day.
Each handler did a catwalk (how ironic) with our dogs who were mostly dressed to impress the audience. There were a couple of nudie entries like the retriever and the westie, but it was the smaller, dressier dogs that got the gasps and the applause. And the photo ops.
The contest results were exactly the same as the last time: Q-tip (Miss looking-fab-in-her-faux-Burberry's-trenchcoat) was 2nd runner-up; Mimi (Miss Personality/Photogenic) emerged the Champion. They won a doggie hamper (sponsored by Annie's Pets Corner) and a trophy each. So Neopets.
More pix here.
Put all the calories lost back with interest at lunchtime. Went to Swenson's at Parkway Parade where I ordered the unhealthiest-looking thing on the menu: the Cheesy Beef Burger. But it was the first time I have gone into a Swensons and left without ordering ice-cream. Dessert we saved for New Zealand Natural: mocha almond fudge+walnut butterscotch for me, and chocolate ecstacy+vanilla classic for June. Mmm...
M-i-L signed Q-tip and Mimi up for a "Dog Parade contest" at this RC block party in Toa Payoh this evening. The programme involved some karaoke items, a balloon artist, and us, the canine celebrities of the day.Each handler did a catwalk (how ironic) with our dogs who were mostly dressed to impress the audience. There were a couple of nudie entries like the retriever and the westie, but it was the smaller, dressier dogs that got the gasps and the applause. And the photo ops.
The contest results were exactly the same as the last time: Q-tip (Miss looking-fab-in-her-faux-Burberry's-trenchcoat) was 2nd runner-up; Mimi (Miss Personality/Photogenic) emerged the Champion. They won a doggie hamper (sponsored by Annie's Pets Corner) and a trophy each. So Neopets.
More pix here.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Began the day with news that my timetable will increase by 4-and-a-half more hours per week, which I kinda' expected it would. The difficulty is in getting myself acquainted with another bunch of J2's who are already used to one tutor and now have to get used to a new one: me. And I only have 6 months or so to get them up to standard for their 'A's, though as of right now, I'm told, they aren't doing very well. A challenge, then.
Also began preparations with Vince, Nirmy, Cynth and Boss Lady for a 2-hour long presentation on critical thinking for a bunch of Ps and Vice-Ps of our cluster. When we gave this presentation to our own staff sometime last year, we never expected the upper-echelons to take us so seriously and offer us to such scary levels. Hope we won't disappoint.
1 piece of good news I did receive was that my request to push back PUS submission deadlines was cheerfully granted, so we -- me, Mel, Gerald and the PUS kids -- can breathe a little easier next week.
Went to lunch with Amy and Dee. I haven't had a Han's black pepper steak in nearly 10 years, but it's still quite good value for money. Food-court style steak with emphasis on "pepper." It burns lips, tongue and stomach, but what a feeling! I extinguished the flames with an iced lemon tea, and unless I'm mistaken, it isn't the usual post-mix crap but the real stuff -- real tea, real lemon, real cold. The set also includes garlic bread (slightly over-toasted walnut bread) and a slice of mystery fruit (which I declined to touch). $7.50 for the lot. 10 years ago when I was dirt poor, this was a luxury meal. Today, it's comfortably affordable. Life is good.
Joined Vince almost immediately after lunch at Friends to keep him company while he marked exam scripts. I still had a bunch of scripts too, so it was quite a productive hour of marking and having tea. Discovered that Friends offers a home-made variety of vanilla ice-cream which is beautifully rich and flavourful. It even has traces of raw, ground-up vanilla beans speckling the white, creamy goodness. This is one place to remember for ice-cream.
Spent the rest of the evening photographing the O2 Finale dance party. Not sure why even, 'cos no one's been assigned to write the story. But if it's pix you be wantin', you can get 'em here.
Also began preparations with Vince, Nirmy, Cynth and Boss Lady for a 2-hour long presentation on critical thinking for a bunch of Ps and Vice-Ps of our cluster. When we gave this presentation to our own staff sometime last year, we never expected the upper-echelons to take us so seriously and offer us to such scary levels. Hope we won't disappoint.
1 piece of good news I did receive was that my request to push back PUS submission deadlines was cheerfully granted, so we -- me, Mel, Gerald and the PUS kids -- can breathe a little easier next week.
Went to lunch with Amy and Dee. I haven't had a Han's black pepper steak in nearly 10 years, but it's still quite good value for money. Food-court style steak with emphasis on "pepper." It burns lips, tongue and stomach, but what a feeling! I extinguished the flames with an iced lemon tea, and unless I'm mistaken, it isn't the usual post-mix crap but the real stuff -- real tea, real lemon, real cold. The set also includes garlic bread (slightly over-toasted walnut bread) and a slice of mystery fruit (which I declined to touch). $7.50 for the lot. 10 years ago when I was dirt poor, this was a luxury meal. Today, it's comfortably affordable. Life is good.
Joined Vince almost immediately after lunch at Friends to keep him company while he marked exam scripts. I still had a bunch of scripts too, so it was quite a productive hour of marking and having tea. Discovered that Friends offers a home-made variety of vanilla ice-cream which is beautifully rich and flavourful. It even has traces of raw, ground-up vanilla beans speckling the white, creamy goodness. This is one place to remember for ice-cream.
Spent the rest of the evening photographing the O2 Finale dance party. Not sure why even, 'cos no one's been assigned to write the story. But if it's pix you be wantin', you can get 'em here.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Another satisfactory day of marking. Maybe it's because most of the essays I'm marking actually have some decent current affairs content and language usage. And most essays come in legible handwriting too.
A few of these scripts overshot the 800 word limit too, so I'm going to have to advise some students to be more concise. But there are a couple of other students who turned in scripts lazy as heck, who tried to pass off clever rhetoric as arguments, cliches in place of of evidence, theories instead of facts.
The general problem for this tutorial group is that they present topical knowledge (of which they do have some, thankfully) without likewise presenting a clear opinion on the topic. It's a start, at least.
A few of these scripts overshot the 800 word limit too, so I'm going to have to advise some students to be more concise. But there are a couple of other students who turned in scripts lazy as heck, who tried to pass off clever rhetoric as arguments, cliches in place of of evidence, theories instead of facts.
The general problem for this tutorial group is that they present topical knowledge (of which they do have some, thankfully) without likewise presenting a clear opinion on the topic. It's a start, at least.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
I was a good boy today for having put a major dent in my marking load. Hope I can keep it up and not get distracted with other activities over the next few days, then I can start wearing all my other hats again with a clear conscience.
Rewarded myself by watching my "Mirrormask" DVD this evening. Weird. Most of the movie takes place in a dream. It's a blend of 'live' action with Henson puppetry with CGI, and often it's hard to tell which is which.
Gaiman's designs are as surreal as they are bizarre. Strange creatures like headless storks that make up a police contingent, dove-apes that prefer swinging to flying, a spider that doubles as the Black Queen's eye, petrifying tendrils of darkness that sweep relentlessly across the cityscape... the brain works overtime interpreting the visual stimulus and trying to make sense of it all.
The experience is like having a nearly 1-hour long hallucination without having to consume drugs. I kinda' liked it for the story, but the surreal elements got too much for me. I'm pretty sure my own dreams are less fanciful, more realistic -- and I found this dream hard to accept and believe in after a while. Thankfully, the movie is relatively short.
Think I would have enjoyed the story more reading it than watching it. But that's just me.
Rewarded myself by watching my "Mirrormask" DVD this evening. Weird. Most of the movie takes place in a dream. It's a blend of 'live' action with Henson puppetry with CGI, and often it's hard to tell which is which.
Gaiman's designs are as surreal as they are bizarre. Strange creatures like headless storks that make up a police contingent, dove-apes that prefer swinging to flying, a spider that doubles as the Black Queen's eye, petrifying tendrils of darkness that sweep relentlessly across the cityscape... the brain works overtime interpreting the visual stimulus and trying to make sense of it all.
The experience is like having a nearly 1-hour long hallucination without having to consume drugs. I kinda' liked it for the story, but the surreal elements got too much for me. I'm pretty sure my own dreams are less fanciful, more realistic -- and I found this dream hard to accept and believe in after a while. Thankfully, the movie is relatively short.
Think I would have enjoyed the story more reading it than watching it. But that's just me.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Marking season is upon us again, but Vince found time to make up for his rain check from June's dinner. NBS, who was likewise absent with apologies last Saturday, joined us at Shima Aji for the sashimi buffet.
The raw fish, as usual, was delightful. I tried the tempura shishamo -- done so crispy there was nothing left to waste. And with the delicate little fish eggs rolling around on the tongue, it was quite an experience. It had a strong fish oil taste, though, like a dose of cod liver oil with every bite; so I could only manage downing 2 fish before the law of diminishing returns kicked in.
Washed down with lots of wasabi and green tea, it really was a good dinner.
The raw fish, as usual, was delightful. I tried the tempura shishamo -- done so crispy there was nothing left to waste. And with the delicate little fish eggs rolling around on the tongue, it was quite an experience. It had a strong fish oil taste, though, like a dose of cod liver oil with every bite; so I could only manage downing 2 fish before the law of diminishing returns kicked in.
Washed down with lots of wasabi and green tea, it really was a good dinner.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
We took Mimi home to M-i-L's this afternoon. Mimi's had a long vacation with us -- about 3-4 weeks -- in which she went out with us quite a lot. She won't get many chances to take car rides when she's home, but we feel that at least she won't be so starved of human company there, compared to our place where for much of the day there's only Q-tip and the cats to entertain her.
Mimi may be a noisy little thing, and combined with Q-tip the mess they make can be quite a headache, sometimes, but we're going to miss her. Always following us around, snuggling up to us whenever she gets a chance, asking for tummy-rubs, going mad whenever we come home... Q-tip could learn a thing or two from her.
Hope the folks at home remember to keep brushing her teeth.
Mimi may be a noisy little thing, and combined with Q-tip the mess they make can be quite a headache, sometimes, but we're going to miss her. Always following us around, snuggling up to us whenever she gets a chance, asking for tummy-rubs, going mad whenever we come home... Q-tip could learn a thing or two from her.
Hope the folks at home remember to keep brushing her teeth.
June's big day yesterday. Celebrated at (relatively) dog-friendly Sunset.
It was a simple affair: called a few friends together, made dinner reservations, ordered a cake from Awfully Chocolate, picked out a token gift from Mintmark & Co.... There were still a couple of hitches and hiccups 'cos I'm not exactly the best of social event organizers, but things went mostly according to plan.
Happy birthday, June!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Got the dogs professionally shot at Pets Cover Looks as we got a coupon for a free photo shoot at their studio. The shoot was indeed free, but we paid $388 for the photos on a CD. Made a nice pressie for June!
A few more of their better shots, click here.
Met up with Adrian at Northpoint. While waiting for him to arrive, I bought "The Constant Gardener" and Gaiman's "Mirrormask" on DVD.
Then we went for dinner at Bottle Tree Village (pix above). Very ulu, very dark and narrow road to drive down to get there, but the view across the Straits of Johore is quite something to behold. Food's quite good -- Chinese restaurant zi cha stuff. We had their homemade tofu; fresh, crispy French beans; beef with spring onions; and half a huge fish head cooked with bitter gourd which we couldn't finish. Quite reasonably priced too: $61 for the 3 of us, considering the location.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Unpleasant news in the ST Obituaries today. This kid who occasionally came over to my place to play with my sister has passed on. The two were best friends since kindergarten (SVDP), in primary school (CLGC), secondary school (SJC), then college (CJ). Then finally their education and career paths took them in separate directions, though they still kept in touch quite frequently.
In Beijing, she caught the flu but thought nothing of it at the time. Before long, it developed into pneumonia. Further complications brought her immediately into ICU and that was it.
No, I didn't know Erica well. To me, she was just my kid sister's playmate. And I didn't recognize the photo in the papers either. I knew her as a child, but never as a career woman nor as a mother. And I didn't expect the child to go so soon...
Someone I knew; someone I might have got to know better, but didn't.
In Beijing, she caught the flu but thought nothing of it at the time. Before long, it developed into pneumonia. Further complications brought her immediately into ICU and that was it.
No, I didn't know Erica well. To me, she was just my kid sister's playmate. And I didn't recognize the photo in the papers either. I knew her as a child, but never as a career woman nor as a mother. And I didn't expect the child to go so soon...
Someone I knew; someone I might have got to know better, but didn't.
I think I'm losing the patience required to be a real PC game player. Either that or I'm a total loser for getting my butt handed to me on a plate so often, and hence resorting to cheating with GOD mode just to finish Q4.
I no longer have the dedication to try and try again, slowly figuring out the right combination of tactical maneuvers to help me survive the next onslaught of beasties. This is especially taxing in the later levels when bigger, tougher, heavier armed enemy critters continue to respawn without end. As soon as you down one, another pops up and goes immediately for your jugular.
Forget it. Just invoke "invulnerability" mode and finish the game. Done. Now I can go back to normal life again.
Normal life, for example, means meeting up with real people like Amy for lunch, then having Vince join us for another quick bowling session at the CSC.
I no longer have the dedication to try and try again, slowly figuring out the right combination of tactical maneuvers to help me survive the next onslaught of beasties. This is especially taxing in the later levels when bigger, tougher, heavier armed enemy critters continue to respawn without end. As soon as you down one, another pops up and goes immediately for your jugular.
Forget it. Just invoke "invulnerability" mode and finish the game. Done. Now I can go back to normal life again.
Normal life, for example, means meeting up with real people like Amy for lunch, then having Vince join us for another quick bowling session at the CSC.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
NY conneXions only has 1 article this week 'cos it's the March hols, but yesterday's futsal event was too big a deal to leave unreported. Read the story here.
Spent the afternoon cycling Ubin with Vince, NBS, Lucy and Mr B.
Spent the afternoon cycling Ubin with Vince, NBS, Lucy and Mr B.
Whoa! Spending too much time on Stoggos, not enough time on Bloggos.
Anyway, the college hosted a joga 3 futsal event for the students yesterday. It was quite exciting to watch the organizers set up 4 futsal courts in the parade square and from there build up a carnival atmosphere with lots of happy, pumped-up kids running around and actually having fun.
I would have liked to participate, but people worry for me and my doctor's orders, even if I don't worry so much for myself. So I contented myself with my digi-cam snapping shots for NY conneX instead.
The highlight of the event was a special guest visit from the Brazilian futsal squad. They showed off their ball skills in a number of exhibition matches against our student teams. The Brazilians were clearly there to give us a feet-on demonstration of "joga bonito," or "play beautiful," and not to massacre their challengers like they might have.
Missed the close of the event 'cos of other work commitments, so I don't know which student team won the tournament eventually. Bah. Information incomplete.
Finally got some company for bowling in the evening. Vince and me, and we both seem quite out of practice, ending a 6-game session with decidedly average averages. We've received our invitation to sign up for the Ministry league again, but we really have to consider whether such a commitment is feasible this year.
Anyway, the college hosted a joga 3 futsal event for the students yesterday. It was quite exciting to watch the organizers set up 4 futsal courts in the parade square and from there build up a carnival atmosphere with lots of happy, pumped-up kids running around and actually having fun.
I would have liked to participate, but people worry for me and my doctor's orders, even if I don't worry so much for myself. So I contented myself with my digi-cam snapping shots for NY conneX instead.
The highlight of the event was a special guest visit from the Brazilian futsal squad. They showed off their ball skills in a number of exhibition matches against our student teams. The Brazilians were clearly there to give us a feet-on demonstration of "joga bonito," or "play beautiful," and not to massacre their challengers like they might have.
Missed the close of the event 'cos of other work commitments, so I don't know which student team won the tournament eventually. Bah. Information incomplete.
Finally got some company for bowling in the evening. Vince and me, and we both seem quite out of practice, ending a 6-game session with decidedly average averages. We've received our invitation to sign up for the Ministry league again, but we really have to consider whether such a commitment is feasible this year.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
It's been a long 2 days wandering around the planet Stroggos fraggin' Stroggs. What? They'd do the same to me too, if they saw me. Actually, they have been rather kicking my butt in turn, and making me quite annoyed. Loaded up Quake 4 on Friday night and I'm still working my way through the levels.
Dunno why, but I'm enjoying this game more than Doom 3. Many scenes are as gory and disturbing -- the waste processing plant was particularly horrid -- but maybe it's because there are more NPCs to interact with and who are actually helpful that makes the difference. Characters you come across either restore your health or armour, upgrade your weapons or offer new ones, and join you in firefights, so you don't often feel completely alone. Also, it doesn't give me motion sickness when I play, so I can enjoy the game for longer stretches than the previous one.
This year so far has been great for my wallet. I don't get so many opportunities to go out at night now, seeing how busy everyone is. Even June's new job makes her keep much longer hours than she likes. And with my own schedule, it's really hard to find common leisure slots in which I can have a proper go-wild-and-crazy time with the Boyz. The upside, of course, is that I get to save on expenses. This month I was surprised that payday seemed to have come earlier than usual. Maybe it's a good opportunity to build up my travel fund again...
Meantime, there's always Watson for company. 'scuse me, there's an ex-commanding officer of mine who's been captured and transformed into an unstoppable killing machine by the Makron. They're all after my blood now so I'm gonna have'ta smack'em all upside the head with my BFG an' show'em who's boss. Back to the trenches...
Dunno why, but I'm enjoying this game more than Doom 3. Many scenes are as gory and disturbing -- the waste processing plant was particularly horrid -- but maybe it's because there are more NPCs to interact with and who are actually helpful that makes the difference. Characters you come across either restore your health or armour, upgrade your weapons or offer new ones, and join you in firefights, so you don't often feel completely alone. Also, it doesn't give me motion sickness when I play, so I can enjoy the game for longer stretches than the previous one.
This year so far has been great for my wallet. I don't get so many opportunities to go out at night now, seeing how busy everyone is. Even June's new job makes her keep much longer hours than she likes. And with my own schedule, it's really hard to find common leisure slots in which I can have a proper go-wild-and-crazy time with the Boyz. The upside, of course, is that I get to save on expenses. This month I was surprised that payday seemed to have come earlier than usual. Maybe it's a good opportunity to build up my travel fund again...
Meantime, there's always Watson for company. 'scuse me, there's an ex-commanding officer of mine who's been captured and transformed into an unstoppable killing machine by the Makron. They're all after my blood now so I'm gonna have'ta smack'em all upside the head with my BFG an' show'em who's boss. Back to the trenches...
Thursday, March 09, 2006
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." Socrates
Y'see? NBS and I have widely differing opinions as to our expected end results for KI students. No doubt we both want them to eventually become wise beyond their years, but we seem to be disagreeing on what to consider as progress milestones.
For me, I look at the culture schoolkids are raised in today and I see an environment in which kids are taught to shut up and accept "knowledge" from whatever higher authority. Kids don't go to school to ask questions; but rather, they go to answer them. So after 10+ years of such conditioning, kids believe that answers are more valuable than questions; and if they don't have immediate answers, they think they're screwed for life.
The education system tends to be prescriptive. It doesn't encourage curiosity, but instead gives the impression that whatever isn't in the syllabus isn't important, and therefore there isn't any need to find out more than what's in front of the nose. Questions probing beyond tend to fall somewhere between "impertinent" and "irrelevant," and more often than not are quashed by a teacher's icy glare.
The child's eventually learns to recognize what are potentially inappropriate and/or embarrassing lines of inquiry and self-censors verbal articulation of thoughts that need clarification or further explanation, though such questions may hold valuable keys to gaining a better understanding of the concept being considered. This self-censor -- which has the power to save "face" -- is unfortunately also the biggest stumbling block to a child's learning ability.
The self-censor is an important socialization tool. It prevents misunderstanding between people, and it alerts us to sensitivities of the concept under discussion. But under repeated conditioning it kicks into overdrive and we can't be bothered to argue with it any longer. We take the easy way out and stop questioning altogether.
Most of us live under the tyranny of the self-censor for the rest of our lives. We're too afraid, too embarrassed, too polite to ask questions any longer. We remain quiet, content to absorb information but not engage it, and so our learning ends once we leave school. The KI student works to overcome this fate, taking back control from his/her self-censor so that he/she can reclaim the freedom to question and be curious once again.
As for our field trip to Parliamant House on Wednesday, our KIds showed the will and the audacity to ask about things they didn't understand, or about discrepancies between their expectations and what they actually observed. The questions may not have been profound abstractions showing off how smart they were, but rather admissions that they didn't know what was going on and yet they wanted to find out anyway. This, to me is what learning is all about. The answers they got to their queries were quite satisfactory, and compared to their seniors who tended to just sit quietly, I'm sure the KIds got more out of the visit.
NBS isn't wrong about wanting to be more ambitious for the KIds. As we progress, they will learn to raise the level of their queries. But after having had only 1 term with us, they are already starting to become curious about their world again. That, to me, is a stumbling block removed. Heh. Between NBS and me, I think we're going to see our 1st batch of KIds through ok.
Y'see? NBS and I have widely differing opinions as to our expected end results for KI students. No doubt we both want them to eventually become wise beyond their years, but we seem to be disagreeing on what to consider as progress milestones.
For me, I look at the culture schoolkids are raised in today and I see an environment in which kids are taught to shut up and accept "knowledge" from whatever higher authority. Kids don't go to school to ask questions; but rather, they go to answer them. So after 10+ years of such conditioning, kids believe that answers are more valuable than questions; and if they don't have immediate answers, they think they're screwed for life.
The education system tends to be prescriptive. It doesn't encourage curiosity, but instead gives the impression that whatever isn't in the syllabus isn't important, and therefore there isn't any need to find out more than what's in front of the nose. Questions probing beyond tend to fall somewhere between "impertinent" and "irrelevant," and more often than not are quashed by a teacher's icy glare.
The child's eventually learns to recognize what are potentially inappropriate and/or embarrassing lines of inquiry and self-censors verbal articulation of thoughts that need clarification or further explanation, though such questions may hold valuable keys to gaining a better understanding of the concept being considered. This self-censor -- which has the power to save "face" -- is unfortunately also the biggest stumbling block to a child's learning ability.
The self-censor is an important socialization tool. It prevents misunderstanding between people, and it alerts us to sensitivities of the concept under discussion. But under repeated conditioning it kicks into overdrive and we can't be bothered to argue with it any longer. We take the easy way out and stop questioning altogether.
Most of us live under the tyranny of the self-censor for the rest of our lives. We're too afraid, too embarrassed, too polite to ask questions any longer. We remain quiet, content to absorb information but not engage it, and so our learning ends once we leave school. The KI student works to overcome this fate, taking back control from his/her self-censor so that he/she can reclaim the freedom to question and be curious once again.
As for our field trip to Parliamant House on Wednesday, our KIds showed the will and the audacity to ask about things they didn't understand, or about discrepancies between their expectations and what they actually observed. The questions may not have been profound abstractions showing off how smart they were, but rather admissions that they didn't know what was going on and yet they wanted to find out anyway. This, to me is what learning is all about. The answers they got to their queries were quite satisfactory, and compared to their seniors who tended to just sit quietly, I'm sure the KIds got more out of the visit.
NBS isn't wrong about wanting to be more ambitious for the KIds. As we progress, they will learn to raise the level of their queries. But after having had only 1 term with us, they are already starting to become curious about their world again. That, to me, is a stumbling block removed. Heh. Between NBS and me, I think we're going to see our 1st batch of KIds through ok.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Considering I've had about 3 hours of sleep between yesterday and today, I still feel pretty good. For one thing, the latest edition of NY conneX is online! And for another, I'm anticipating that apart from a couple of administrative chores tomorrow, I can get some make-up rest time in the afternoon. Oh, wait, there's still a pile of essays left to wade through. Whatever. There are only 24 hours in a day after all.
NBS and I have very different opinions about how our field trip to Parliament House went this afternoon. Because Parliament was in session -- today they were debating the budget for MoM -- we got to sit and observe the proceedings for about a half-hour. It wasn't exactly a full house, but a number of recognizeable people were present, including the PM and SM, and Mr Chiam too.
During the 'education' part of our visit, while the JC2s remained quiet, our KIds jumped right on the Q&A session and pestered our patient guide with question after question. NBS lamented that their questions weren't particularly intelligent. They were mostly procedural and speculative questions and perhaps they seemed like a waste of time to answer.
But to me, the level of questioning wasn't important. The fact that they were asking, and treating the guide as if he would give them answers (which he did) rather than tell them to shut up (which he didn't) showed that they were actively engaging the content, if not necessarily the substance, of the learning experience.
So instead of sitting and absorbing like sponges like everybody else, they pushed ahead and sought out further information than was immediately obvious. If they picked up this confidence from just our first term together, then I think we're moving KI in the right direction. And I'm quite proud of the KIds after today's session.
NBS and I have very different opinions about how our field trip to Parliament House went this afternoon. Because Parliament was in session -- today they were debating the budget for MoM -- we got to sit and observe the proceedings for about a half-hour. It wasn't exactly a full house, but a number of recognizeable people were present, including the PM and SM, and Mr Chiam too.
During the 'education' part of our visit, while the JC2s remained quiet, our KIds jumped right on the Q&A session and pestered our patient guide with question after question. NBS lamented that their questions weren't particularly intelligent. They were mostly procedural and speculative questions and perhaps they seemed like a waste of time to answer.
But to me, the level of questioning wasn't important. The fact that they were asking, and treating the guide as if he would give them answers (which he did) rather than tell them to shut up (which he didn't) showed that they were actively engaging the content, if not necessarily the substance, of the learning experience.
So instead of sitting and absorbing like sponges like everybody else, they pushed ahead and sought out further information than was immediately obvious. If they picked up this confidence from just our first term together, then I think we're moving KI in the right direction. And I'm quite proud of the KIds after today's session.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Had dinner at Miss Clarity, recommended by Yee 'cos it's right downstairs from his new workplace. A bunch of us were there just to unwind and sample the set meals on offer. Even Avril, who's gone over to the Ministry, joined us for a little light-hearted evening company.
Sets here range from $8.80 to $15.80. I had a lamb chop set at $12.80. 3 chops of tender, juicy lamb, though this little lamb seriously needed counseling at Weight Watchers. Wonder how Vince's lamb was?
It's nice to see how at home June is with everyone. Doubt I could fit in with her colleagues in the same way. And I was really amused that she knew stuff about other people in other departments on campus that even we didn't know about. She has her sources!
So glad to have the opportunity to chill out with the guys. We're all so busy in the daytime, it's great to be able to spend a couple of hours just hanging out and chatting about inconsequentials over food. Cheers, ppl!
Sets here range from $8.80 to $15.80. I had a lamb chop set at $12.80. 3 chops of tender, juicy lamb, though this little lamb seriously needed counseling at Weight Watchers. Wonder how Vince's lamb was?
It's nice to see how at home June is with everyone. Doubt I could fit in with her colleagues in the same way. And I was really amused that she knew stuff about other people in other departments on campus that even we didn't know about. She has her sources!
So glad to have the opportunity to chill out with the guys. We're all so busy in the daytime, it's great to be able to spend a couple of hours just hanging out and chatting about inconsequentials over food. Cheers, ppl!
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Considering we live in a region and a through a history that is so volatile and so civilization-threatening that it takes a cool, confident, tenaciously committed team of thinkers and do-ers (for example, Raja and his colleagues in the MFA) to even dare take the lead in keeping a lid on things; and in an economy that is so literally cut-throat it defies common sense to even think about surviving in (as the brains and entrepreneurs of STI have chosen to face head-on regardless), you have to wonder what our fate is going to be like in 20-30 years time when these whining, overwrought, stressed-out, burned-out kids start taking over our industries and our political machine, and we are too old to work any longer.
Please don't write a sentence like this in your GP essays. Be kind to your tutors. Thank you.
Please don't write a sentence like this in your GP essays. Be kind to your tutors. Thank you.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Here's a bonus for us car drivers: a video clip of a jaw-dropping display of synchronized driving, apparently from the early 80's. Here.
Last night was the Chinese society's drama presentation. A double-bill generally featuring dead people. Must be the latest trend or something.
The first item centred around a retarded boy. Or rather, because the boy was retarded, attention went to him by default. Maybe it's just my bias, but I'm fed-up of the tendency to milk the character of the 'retard' for sympathy and cheap drama. It doesn't take a lot of skill to literally "play the fool." Just act irrationally by randomly and abruptly changing behaviour patterns, and absolutely refuse to engage the script except in response to such stimulus that triggers off the most basic of reptilian brain functions.
It would have been better if the script had at least tried to develop some complexity to his character, but instead all it led up to was his inexplicable self-defenestration. Basically, he was stupid, therefore he fell out the window. That's one way to put the audience out of our misery, I suppose.
The second piece was an improvement from the earlier one. A delinquent kid gets pretty much into everyone's bad books. His little girlfriend discovers the grief that lies behind his unmotivated hyperactivity (ooh, ooh, oxymoron), while his superstitious granny makes him confront it, bringing him back into society's fold once again.
A more coherent plotline in this one, more realistic towards human behaviour and experience. The interaction between delinquent and granny had its amusing moments, especially when granny attempts to exorcise spirits from him, and the moments between him and girlfriend were quite sweet.
Strange choice of set placement in which the park set is smack centre-stage flanked by living-room set on SL and dining-room SR. It looks like there is a park in the middle of the apartment, when the two locations start alternating with each other. Visually confusing but one gets used to it after a while.
And, yes, there's still a tendency to rely on the blackout, but at least scene changes are much faster, reducing wait-in-the-dark time to a minimum.
Chinese Society's annual "Bai Yun Gang" event has its own identity and a very strong support base of students and alumni. It was nearly full house in LT4 last night, and it's sold out tonight as well. Hope NYeDC can capture similar commercial success, as well as critical success this year. Break a leg, guys!
The first item centred around a retarded boy. Or rather, because the boy was retarded, attention went to him by default. Maybe it's just my bias, but I'm fed-up of the tendency to milk the character of the 'retard' for sympathy and cheap drama. It doesn't take a lot of skill to literally "play the fool." Just act irrationally by randomly and abruptly changing behaviour patterns, and absolutely refuse to engage the script except in response to such stimulus that triggers off the most basic of reptilian brain functions.
It would have been better if the script had at least tried to develop some complexity to his character, but instead all it led up to was his inexplicable self-defenestration. Basically, he was stupid, therefore he fell out the window. That's one way to put the audience out of our misery, I suppose.
The second piece was an improvement from the earlier one. A delinquent kid gets pretty much into everyone's bad books. His little girlfriend discovers the grief that lies behind his unmotivated hyperactivity (ooh, ooh, oxymoron), while his superstitious granny makes him confront it, bringing him back into society's fold once again.
A more coherent plotline in this one, more realistic towards human behaviour and experience. The interaction between delinquent and granny had its amusing moments, especially when granny attempts to exorcise spirits from him, and the moments between him and girlfriend were quite sweet.
Strange choice of set placement in which the park set is smack centre-stage flanked by living-room set on SL and dining-room SR. It looks like there is a park in the middle of the apartment, when the two locations start alternating with each other. Visually confusing but one gets used to it after a while.
And, yes, there's still a tendency to rely on the blackout, but at least scene changes are much faster, reducing wait-in-the-dark time to a minimum.
Chinese Society's annual "Bai Yun Gang" event has its own identity and a very strong support base of students and alumni. It was nearly full house in LT4 last night, and it's sold out tonight as well. Hope NYeDC can capture similar commercial success, as well as critical success this year. Break a leg, guys!
Friday, March 03, 2006
Field trip: NEWater plant with NBS and a few KIds. Hadn't counted on there being a primary school group on the same tour, and a bunch of senior high school exchange students from India as well. 80 little monkeys, a handful of trying-to-be-dignified-in-their-blazers-and-ties teenagers, and then there's us and our kids, casual as they come.
The tour, of course, catered to the lowest common denominator; the below-10 crowd. Hence the Barney-style presentation with toilet humor thrown in to keep the small boys happy. But the kids were the life of the tour, regardless of how I usually feel about them. They were lively, responsive, curious, and rambunctious. Without them, and the tour leader displaying remarkable skill, patience and good-nature in dealing with their shenanigans, the tour could have devolved into the #1 cure for insomnia. Well, maybe not. Perhaps the presenter might have been prepared with a repertoire of adult jokes for an older audience?
Oddly enough, there wasn't time in the presentation for a proper Q&A session. Many times the little ones' hands popped up but they were never allowed to ask their questions because the content material just kept steamrolling along. Is that why when they get to college level, noone bothers to ask anything any more? Too much content to memorize because there is no other avenue on which to engage the material? Noone to ask of because "you're supposed to know the answer already! What have I been talking about for the last half-hour?"
Guess that's my key take-away on this trip: the difference between GP and KI. Conventional GP kids make it their job to know the answers. KIds make it their job to regain their curiosity and start asking questions again. Hmm... if that's the case, then perhaps all college kids should have a dose of KI first, since GP seems to be the more advanced stage of this two-step process.
The tour, of course, catered to the lowest common denominator; the below-10 crowd. Hence the Barney-style presentation with toilet humor thrown in to keep the small boys happy. But the kids were the life of the tour, regardless of how I usually feel about them. They were lively, responsive, curious, and rambunctious. Without them, and the tour leader displaying remarkable skill, patience and good-nature in dealing with their shenanigans, the tour could have devolved into the #1 cure for insomnia. Well, maybe not. Perhaps the presenter might have been prepared with a repertoire of adult jokes for an older audience?
Oddly enough, there wasn't time in the presentation for a proper Q&A session. Many times the little ones' hands popped up but they were never allowed to ask their questions because the content material just kept steamrolling along. Is that why when they get to college level, noone bothers to ask anything any more? Too much content to memorize because there is no other avenue on which to engage the material? Noone to ask of because "you're supposed to know the answer already! What have I been talking about for the last half-hour?"
Guess that's my key take-away on this trip: the difference between GP and KI. Conventional GP kids make it their job to know the answers. KIds make it their job to regain their curiosity and start asking questions again. Hmm... if that's the case, then perhaps all college kids should have a dose of KI first, since GP seems to be the more advanced stage of this two-step process.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Since I was at the petanque courts to photograph the kids in training, June and I took the chance to catch "Underworld:Evolution" at the Eng Wah across the street.
Cool movie. Almost non-stop violence and gore as werewolves battle it out against vampires, from medieval times to the present. Not much of a reason given as to what they're fighting about, though. Then when the vampires run out of werewolves to fight, they fight amongst themselves. Last ones standing get to kick the last (who also happens to be the oldest, biggest and baddest) werewolf's butt. Brilliant!
And some stylo costumes mostly in the scruffy leather category. It's a treat to see Kate Beckinsale run around in her cat-suit. It's even more of a treat to see her out of it. Heh. ;)
Cool movie. Almost non-stop violence and gore as werewolves battle it out against vampires, from medieval times to the present. Not much of a reason given as to what they're fighting about, though. Then when the vampires run out of werewolves to fight, they fight amongst themselves. Last ones standing get to kick the last (who also happens to be the oldest, biggest and baddest) werewolf's butt. Brilliant!
And some stylo costumes mostly in the scruffy leather category. It's a treat to see Kate Beckinsale run around in her cat-suit. It's even more of a treat to see her out of it. Heh. ;)
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Got my GP tutorial working on writing up proposals for the use of the 'Opportunity Funds' being allocated to all schools from this year's annual Budget. The idea is to boost the finances of neighbourhood schools so that they don't lose out so much against the better-off self-funded institutions in terms of providing enrichment programmes for the students.
Some schools are considering using the money to subsidize out-of-country field trips and IT expenses for kids from families which can't afford such luxuries (some call them necessities) outright. Other schools want to expand their library collections, and introduce programmes that offer training in non-academic lifeskills. You get the idea.
I wondered what students themselves might come up with if they had a say in the application of these funds, hence the proposal-writing exercise. While there were a couple of groups in which the membership just coudn't decide amongst themselves what they should propose to buy, there were a couple if interesting ideas that surfaced.
Use the funds as seed money for each class to use as capital to set up and operate a small business, perhaps for a finite period of time and in competition with one another. The other suggestion was to equip and train a group of students in the fine art of clowning. I thought these ideas were excellent! So much potential for independent, self-motivated learning in many aspects of life.
Schools are making their own decisions as to how to use the bonus income. Some schools want to consult parents as to how to spend the money. But since the money is meant to be used for their sake, shouldn't the students have a say too?
Some schools are considering using the money to subsidize out-of-country field trips and IT expenses for kids from families which can't afford such luxuries (some call them necessities) outright. Other schools want to expand their library collections, and introduce programmes that offer training in non-academic lifeskills. You get the idea.
I wondered what students themselves might come up with if they had a say in the application of these funds, hence the proposal-writing exercise. While there were a couple of groups in which the membership just coudn't decide amongst themselves what they should propose to buy, there were a couple if interesting ideas that surfaced.
Use the funds as seed money for each class to use as capital to set up and operate a small business, perhaps for a finite period of time and in competition with one another. The other suggestion was to equip and train a group of students in the fine art of clowning. I thought these ideas were excellent! So much potential for independent, self-motivated learning in many aspects of life.
Schools are making their own decisions as to how to use the bonus income. Some schools want to consult parents as to how to spend the money. But since the money is meant to be used for their sake, shouldn't the students have a say too?
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Had to make a decision. Consulted the Journalists and they agreed that a weekly publication was indeed too stressful to write for. Decided we can focus on delivering more quality if we published every fortnight instead. We'll have time to look through the stories in more detail and correct factual errors and other oversights. Perhaps investigate things further without the added pressure of meeting impossible deadlines, and do homework, and mug, and de-stress all at the same time. Next ish comes out in a week's time, then.
Monday, February 27, 2006
I've for a long time wondered what the etymology of 'milo dinosaur' was. I ordered one today at lunch and took the time to observe it. It looked larger than the regular milo, anyway, which could account for the size association, though that's a bit of an exaggeration.
A milo dinosaur, for the uninitiated, is a large iced milo sprinkled over with a respectable mound of chocolatey milo powder, forming a little brown mountain at the top of the mug. As the milo powder comes into contact with the cold fluid milo, it petrifies -- that is, it clumps together and hardens into rocks of different sizes.
Soon, the lumps of milo 'rocks' fill up the gaps between the ice cubes and the concoction becomes increasingly difficult to stir.
Like the bones of an extinct dinosaur get trapped and frozen within layers of geology, so too does a milo dinosaur become bogged down in a sticky quagmire as the chocolatey sediment settles and hardens inside the beverage. And maybe that's where the 'dinosaur' can be found.
There are days on which I feel the same way. Stuck in a rut, immobilized and clinging to the old days, while everyone else has already gone ahead. The trick is not to be a dinosaur in a fast-paced, ever-changing world. The call is to move on, move on; adapt and change, or stagnate and die. To the world, it makes no difference whether you do or you don't. To you, of course, it does.
A milo dinosaur, for the uninitiated, is a large iced milo sprinkled over with a respectable mound of chocolatey milo powder, forming a little brown mountain at the top of the mug. As the milo powder comes into contact with the cold fluid milo, it petrifies -- that is, it clumps together and hardens into rocks of different sizes.
Soon, the lumps of milo 'rocks' fill up the gaps between the ice cubes and the concoction becomes increasingly difficult to stir.
Like the bones of an extinct dinosaur get trapped and frozen within layers of geology, so too does a milo dinosaur become bogged down in a sticky quagmire as the chocolatey sediment settles and hardens inside the beverage. And maybe that's where the 'dinosaur' can be found.
There are days on which I feel the same way. Stuck in a rut, immobilized and clinging to the old days, while everyone else has already gone ahead. The trick is not to be a dinosaur in a fast-paced, ever-changing world. The call is to move on, move on; adapt and change, or stagnate and die. To the world, it makes no difference whether you do or you don't. To you, of course, it does.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Since she had her teeth done yesterday, Mimi's developed a pretty horrid cough. She coughed through last night and late this morning she started coughing up some nasty phlegm that scared us enough to take her back to the vet to find out what's up.
We found out that part of the procedure for administering anesthesia during her dental work involved the insertion of a tube down her throat that might have caused some irritation. It didn't help that when she came to, she started barking the place down -- frantic because she couldn't identify a familiar face nearby. In fact, the vet called me an hour before the appointed time to collect Mimi and Kaiser, 'cos Mimi was "very stressed."
Today, the vet gave her an anti-inflammatory shot and an antibiotics shot, and prescribed a codine-based cough mixture as well. Oh, and 2 weeks worth of antibiotics tablets too. That's a lot of medication for a little dog to handle. Hope we know what we're doing.
We found out that part of the procedure for administering anesthesia during her dental work involved the insertion of a tube down her throat that might have caused some irritation. It didn't help that when she came to, she started barking the place down -- frantic because she couldn't identify a familiar face nearby. In fact, the vet called me an hour before the appointed time to collect Mimi and Kaiser, 'cos Mimi was "very stressed."
Today, the vet gave her an anti-inflammatory shot and an antibiotics shot, and prescribed a codine-based cough mixture as well. Oh, and 2 weeks worth of antibiotics tablets too. That's a lot of medication for a little dog to handle. Hope we know what we're doing.
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