It's an argument that we in the industry will never win. We're taking flak again, this time for making kids continue classes even though they're supposed to be enjoying their summer break right now. Where is this criticism coming from?
Even in the US, summer school is a legit practice. Kids actually get threatened to be sent to summer school if they are not performing during regular term time. Summer school is also great to attend to gain extra academic credits and makes the study load lighter by a course or two when term resumes. All the more so here then, with parents so anxious about their kids not scoring 'A's, I would think they'd somehow make summer school mandatory without our initiative.
If we didn't hold the kids back, we'd still receive flak anyway for being slack, uncaring, selfish and any other unflattering description because we are not helping the kids to do better at their upcoming exams. After all, we are well-paid civil servants , so we'd better do more to justify our upkeep, some people would say.
Since there's no pleasing anyone on this issue, I'm just going to continue working at whatever needs to be done, whether its admin, lesson planning, materials gathering, assignment marking, course taking, and I'll do it wherever I want, at my own time, without distractions from management or client-base, and I'm going to be happy. I'm on vacation!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Stabbing people in the back is a useful skill to master in "Assassin's Creed". As crack assassin, Altair, who seeks redemption for an earlier botched hit, I have a list of nine very bad men to put paid to. Or rather, my ancestor has to and I'm sharing his memories of his greatest hits via a device that allows me to do so.
Assassins carry out a routine before striking. They infiltrate the target's city of residence; seek out as much information as possible about his whereabouts, activities, strengths and weaknesses; sneak past his guards and finally give him a taste of cold steel in his gut.
That's the theory, anyway. A more skilled player than me might just have the patience and timing to make his kills as smooth as butter and keep the body count to a minimum if he wished to sincerely follow the Creed. But where's the fun in that? Clumsy ol' me just blunders into a hornet's nest bristling with angry men holding pointy objects and having to slay them all. If I manage to poke the right target it's because he was stupid enough to stay and fight with his men. Of course, some targets choose the better part of valour, so those guys need to be timed properly or chased down, apologies to whomever stands in the way.
Fighting is easy to pick up. It's just a matter of timing Altair's attack against his opponents'. Time it right and be rewarded with a cinematic of a deft parry or a brutal finisher. There are lots of variations, and I believe that as Altair unlocks more as he progresses through the levels. Altair often gets surrounded with a mass of enemies, but by methodically picking off each enemy the body count racks up until no one is left to challenge the might of the Assassin. Yes.
But sometimes the fighting can get tiresome, so if there's no one important to kill in the mob another option is to break off and run through the crowd of civillians and climb over the rooftops to find a hiding spot -- a pile of hay or a curtained pavillion. Once the pursuers have lost line of sight, they quit their search (slackers!) and return to their posts.
On the way to the big party, though, there are certain buildings to climb to get a better picture of what's happening in the neighbourhood; hidden flags to collect; civillians to rescue from thugs and bullies; people to pickpocket from; others to intimidate for the information they hold, or just eavesdrop on surreptitious conversations between loose lips. Occasionally, a fellow assassin will point out certain secondary targets to eliminate on the quiet, or initiate a race across the rooftops just for fun.
So there's lots to do in between the big kills, although up to a point, even the variety of activities becomes repetitive after a while. Still, these asides are mostly optional. Completing any two or three per city is enough to unlock access to the big cheese himself, and his cryptic final words that make Altair wonder if he is on the right side of the war after all.
Many people have a problem with the ending sequence to the game. Just when you think there's more to come, the game stops on a cliffhanger. The problem is, you don't know the game's ended. You just keep walking around in a closed room where you can access clues about what's to come, then there's nothing else to do except wander around aimlessly wondering what the heck to do next. There's only one thing left to do: see that little box marked with an 'X' on the top right hand of your game window? Click that then get on with your life.
Assassins carry out a routine before striking. They infiltrate the target's city of residence; seek out as much information as possible about his whereabouts, activities, strengths and weaknesses; sneak past his guards and finally give him a taste of cold steel in his gut.
That's the theory, anyway. A more skilled player than me might just have the patience and timing to make his kills as smooth as butter and keep the body count to a minimum if he wished to sincerely follow the Creed. But where's the fun in that? Clumsy ol' me just blunders into a hornet's nest bristling with angry men holding pointy objects and having to slay them all. If I manage to poke the right target it's because he was stupid enough to stay and fight with his men. Of course, some targets choose the better part of valour, so those guys need to be timed properly or chased down, apologies to whomever stands in the way.
Fighting is easy to pick up. It's just a matter of timing Altair's attack against his opponents'. Time it right and be rewarded with a cinematic of a deft parry or a brutal finisher. There are lots of variations, and I believe that as Altair unlocks more as he progresses through the levels. Altair often gets surrounded with a mass of enemies, but by methodically picking off each enemy the body count racks up until no one is left to challenge the might of the Assassin. Yes.
But sometimes the fighting can get tiresome, so if there's no one important to kill in the mob another option is to break off and run through the crowd of civillians and climb over the rooftops to find a hiding spot -- a pile of hay or a curtained pavillion. Once the pursuers have lost line of sight, they quit their search (slackers!) and return to their posts.
On the way to the big party, though, there are certain buildings to climb to get a better picture of what's happening in the neighbourhood; hidden flags to collect; civillians to rescue from thugs and bullies; people to pickpocket from; others to intimidate for the information they hold, or just eavesdrop on surreptitious conversations between loose lips. Occasionally, a fellow assassin will point out certain secondary targets to eliminate on the quiet, or initiate a race across the rooftops just for fun.
So there's lots to do in between the big kills, although up to a point, even the variety of activities becomes repetitive after a while. Still, these asides are mostly optional. Completing any two or three per city is enough to unlock access to the big cheese himself, and his cryptic final words that make Altair wonder if he is on the right side of the war after all.
Many people have a problem with the ending sequence to the game. Just when you think there's more to come, the game stops on a cliffhanger. The problem is, you don't know the game's ended. You just keep walking around in a closed room where you can access clues about what's to come, then there's nothing else to do except wander around aimlessly wondering what the heck to do next. There's only one thing left to do: see that little box marked with an 'X' on the top right hand of your game window? Click that then get on with your life.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Currently exploring the Holy Land in the 12th century, during the Crusades. My persona's hands soak in the blood of all who stand in the way of my efforts to restore peace to the region (heh, a side note about the necessity of violence for the sake of peace). I fight for neither Sal-a-hadin nor Richard. My struggle is against those who work in the shadows, who profit by fuelling the fires of the conflict, prolonging the war for the sake of their own private agenda.
Or so I've been told. Lately, I'm not so sure any more...
Or so I've been told. Lately, I'm not so sure any more...
Saturday, May 24, 2008
People get upset when their kids fail tests and exams. They get especially upset when they find out that their kid is just one casualty among many others in the cohort. They question the school practices, the competence of the teachers, they feel the pressure to get the kid some private tuition, everything except tell the kid to go study, or get his life under control or something.
What are parents really expecting when to the vast majority of them, perfection = 100%? They expect their kids to hit a target that high at primary and secondary level, and raise hell when the kid falls short within a 5% margin or so. At college level, how do we convince the same parents that because an 'A' grade describes the band from 75% and above, the pass mark actually works out to 45% and even then that's erring on the conservative.
Speaking from the experience of a foreign education, it certainly encouraged me that my profs never did pressure me for an 'A' performance. We all had the understanding that a 'C' grade was entirely satisfactory. 'C' stood for 'competent', a decent level of proficiency in the subject so that I didn't have to be shackled to my desk and textbooks all day and instead did other things with my life that weren't necessarily academic or even intellectual. I still turned in a "B+" average in the end, which meant I did spend some time studying, but my studies were never my life.
Having said that, things are quite different back here. Here people study to live, and our education experience tells us 'A' or die. We have a very penalizing attitude to our tests and exams, which filters down all the way to our setting of papers and our marking. Our papers are necessarily difficult because we hold our kids to very high performance standards. We often teach beyond their syllabus requirements, making them stretch to grasp our material. And when we mark, we usually have very high expectations of them. When they don't quite live up to our expectations, our marking reflects our disappointment. But we are loath to 'dumb it down' because no one is prepared to accept lower standards, and so the hamster wheel just keeps going faster with every subsequent batch of kids.
Wonder how many (if any) of the kids who, on entering university, suddenly realized that we were already trying to teach them the same stuff a couple of years earlier? Just asking.
What are parents really expecting when to the vast majority of them, perfection = 100%? They expect their kids to hit a target that high at primary and secondary level, and raise hell when the kid falls short within a 5% margin or so. At college level, how do we convince the same parents that because an 'A' grade describes the band from 75% and above, the pass mark actually works out to 45% and even then that's erring on the conservative.
Speaking from the experience of a foreign education, it certainly encouraged me that my profs never did pressure me for an 'A' performance. We all had the understanding that a 'C' grade was entirely satisfactory. 'C' stood for 'competent', a decent level of proficiency in the subject so that I didn't have to be shackled to my desk and textbooks all day and instead did other things with my life that weren't necessarily academic or even intellectual. I still turned in a "B+" average in the end, which meant I did spend some time studying, but my studies were never my life.
Having said that, things are quite different back here. Here people study to live, and our education experience tells us 'A' or die. We have a very penalizing attitude to our tests and exams, which filters down all the way to our setting of papers and our marking. Our papers are necessarily difficult because we hold our kids to very high performance standards. We often teach beyond their syllabus requirements, making them stretch to grasp our material. And when we mark, we usually have very high expectations of them. When they don't quite live up to our expectations, our marking reflects our disappointment. But we are loath to 'dumb it down' because no one is prepared to accept lower standards, and so the hamster wheel just keeps going faster with every subsequent batch of kids.
Wonder how many (if any) of the kids who, on entering university, suddenly realized that we were already trying to teach them the same stuff a couple of years earlier? Just asking.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Indy's back and it's another fun run. There are thrills galore in "Crystal Skull", though some of the stunts are worth the scrutiny of the Mythbusters guys. How Indy escapes a nuclear blast test is unbelievable -- i.e., cannot be believed even with copious amounts of disbelief suspended; rather than whoa, awesome, dude!
In this fourth installment the action takes place in Indy's backyard: in the US and in South America. It's the 50s at the height of McCarthyism. Paranoia runs rampant against the Communist threat, and apparently with good reason as a whole platoon of KGB goons in US Army uniforms drive freely around the country seeking paranormal artifacts kept in cold storage in Area 51. Indy himself becomes a victim of the witchhunt due to his unwilling involvement with the Area 51 incident, and having previously lost Marcus Brody and Dr Jones Sr., and recently his tenure at the University, decides to start a new life across the Atlantic.
His journey east gets interrupted by Mutt, a young, leather-clad biker and school-dropout, who brings news that an old colleague and friend is in danger, so off they go to a family reunion of sorts in the jungles of South America.
Spielberg ties both modern and ancient mythology in this episode as Indy discovers a link between the ancient culture of the Meso-Americas and the Roswell incident of 1947. Apart from his escapades in fast moving vehicles on the edge of a precipiece, quicksand, army ants and the usual company of heavily-accented gun-totting goons, Indy movies are fun to watch because they invent answers to some of the mysteries left behind by our long-lost and forgotten ancestors whose technological prowess we tend to underestimate.
In Crystal Skull, we glimpse deiety in yet another form, though this time one that is less than traditionally conventional. From this perspective, the story gets quite a bit hokey with lots of plot loopholes. Like for example, what were the crystal skulls doing together for a thousand years before one got stolen; then when the one is finally returned, what's the reason for all the sudden fireworks? Action and adventure get a heavier weightage than a coherent storyline, but that's Indy.
Ultimately, Crystal Skull is commercial fluff. It's addictive, like a bucket of warm popcorn, and offers as much nutritional value.
In this fourth installment the action takes place in Indy's backyard: in the US and in South America. It's the 50s at the height of McCarthyism. Paranoia runs rampant against the Communist threat, and apparently with good reason as a whole platoon of KGB goons in US Army uniforms drive freely around the country seeking paranormal artifacts kept in cold storage in Area 51. Indy himself becomes a victim of the witchhunt due to his unwilling involvement with the Area 51 incident, and having previously lost Marcus Brody and Dr Jones Sr., and recently his tenure at the University, decides to start a new life across the Atlantic.
His journey east gets interrupted by Mutt, a young, leather-clad biker and school-dropout, who brings news that an old colleague and friend is in danger, so off they go to a family reunion of sorts in the jungles of South America.
Spielberg ties both modern and ancient mythology in this episode as Indy discovers a link between the ancient culture of the Meso-Americas and the Roswell incident of 1947. Apart from his escapades in fast moving vehicles on the edge of a precipiece, quicksand, army ants and the usual company of heavily-accented gun-totting goons, Indy movies are fun to watch because they invent answers to some of the mysteries left behind by our long-lost and forgotten ancestors whose technological prowess we tend to underestimate.
In Crystal Skull, we glimpse deiety in yet another form, though this time one that is less than traditionally conventional. From this perspective, the story gets quite a bit hokey with lots of plot loopholes. Like for example, what were the crystal skulls doing together for a thousand years before one got stolen; then when the one is finally returned, what's the reason for all the sudden fireworks? Action and adventure get a heavier weightage than a coherent storyline, but that's Indy.
Ultimately, Crystal Skull is commercial fluff. It's addictive, like a bucket of warm popcorn, and offers as much nutritional value.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Spent another day improvising GP essays in front of students. One of the requests they made was for the question, "Is competition healthy for man?" Thought I'd put my take here in a more formal presentation. Click.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
In our industry-sponsored dialogue with professionals from outside our industry, we had a couple of government-types and one NGO rep discuss with us the energy issue facing our country today.
While much of the presentations were rather technical to follow, we got the general idea that we are way too dependent on our neighbours for our sources of gas that powers our electrical generators that keep this wired nation humming. Like our water issue, our R&D experts are exploring other forms of power generation leaving no stone unturned in our quest for energy self-sufficiency. Interesting possibilities for our future, yes.
Meantime, we have to save what we can because we are running on finite resources. The second industry expert spoke to us at length about how his organization works to make buildings more energy-efficient. While we got lost in his diagrams, chart and tables, we met in him a guy who really takes pride in his work. With good old engineering know-how, a building's heating and cooling systems can be redesigned to reduce power consumption amounting to quite significant savings every year.
But it was the NGO rep that got our attention because he was talking about things within the household consumer's control -- that's us. He spoke about our behaviour as power consumers and laid out lots of eco-friendly options which we can make to live more responsibly. He spoke about the now compulsory labelling of appliances by his organization which appraises how energy-efficient they are (the more ticks the better); their efforts to educate the public with clean, green living; awards programmes and incentive schemes for organizations going eco-friendly (no school has won such an award yet, he said); and various opportunities for volunteer work.
In the wrap-up, we got the idea that both green initiatives and economic growth must balance each other. Pragmatic, as always, our colleagues in public service.
While much of the presentations were rather technical to follow, we got the general idea that we are way too dependent on our neighbours for our sources of gas that powers our electrical generators that keep this wired nation humming. Like our water issue, our R&D experts are exploring other forms of power generation leaving no stone unturned in our quest for energy self-sufficiency. Interesting possibilities for our future, yes.
Meantime, we have to save what we can because we are running on finite resources. The second industry expert spoke to us at length about how his organization works to make buildings more energy-efficient. While we got lost in his diagrams, chart and tables, we met in him a guy who really takes pride in his work. With good old engineering know-how, a building's heating and cooling systems can be redesigned to reduce power consumption amounting to quite significant savings every year.
But it was the NGO rep that got our attention because he was talking about things within the household consumer's control -- that's us. He spoke about our behaviour as power consumers and laid out lots of eco-friendly options which we can make to live more responsibly. He spoke about the now compulsory labelling of appliances by his organization which appraises how energy-efficient they are (the more ticks the better); their efforts to educate the public with clean, green living; awards programmes and incentive schemes for organizations going eco-friendly (no school has won such an award yet, he said); and various opportunities for volunteer work.
In the wrap-up, we got the idea that both green initiatives and economic growth must balance each other. Pragmatic, as always, our colleagues in public service.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
When will I learn that the only one I can count on is me; the only one who shares common goals with me is me; the only one committed to my cause is me? I should have expected this; after all, my charisma level is roughly equivalent to that of a corpse lying in an open field, and even then I couldn't attract the flies.
How did the game go today? We can safely say that we've firmly cemented our place at rock bottom despite facing a team we could have beaten. The Boyz were a complete no-show, and it was only thanks to the goodwill of ol' Des as a last minute subby that we were allowed to bowl at all -- one bowler short.
This is the last time I'm going to be organizing something that is so low on everybody's priorities. It'll be the last time I'll be organizing anything at all. I'm tired of being constantly brushed off like some kind of inconvenience. From now on, this act is going solo.
How's that for self-indulgent?
How did the game go today? We can safely say that we've firmly cemented our place at rock bottom despite facing a team we could have beaten. The Boyz were a complete no-show, and it was only thanks to the goodwill of ol' Des as a last minute subby that we were allowed to bowl at all -- one bowler short.
This is the last time I'm going to be organizing something that is so low on everybody's priorities. It'll be the last time I'll be organizing anything at all. I'm tired of being constantly brushed off like some kind of inconvenience. From now on, this act is going solo.
How's that for self-indulgent?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Installing Windows SP3 killed Mr L33t! Partway through installation, the update hung and Mr L33t went straight into a coma. The poor guy is now in intensive care. The best I can hope for is to salvage whatever files I can from my archives, then it's probably "good night, sweet prince." A full Windows re-install will be needed to revive him, but I don't have the time for that now.
Usually, I'd be climbing the walls in anxiety right now -- such is the extent of my addiction -- but I'm quite philosophical about this latest untimely demise. As it is, Mr L33t was starting to show his age already. He didn't even live up to the minimum specs of "Assassin's Creed" which I bought to keep me company over the coming hols. I'm also looking forward to picking up "Mass Effect" for PC which should be launching in a couple of weeks, just in time for when I'll be slightly freer to game on again.
So as soon as I'm able to get some time off, I'm donning my geek glasses and pocket protector and heading off to the market for some serious hardware upgrades. At this time, I wonder if Vista is worth investing in? Full DX-10 functionality... tempting.
Usually, I'd be climbing the walls in anxiety right now -- such is the extent of my addiction -- but I'm quite philosophical about this latest untimely demise. As it is, Mr L33t was starting to show his age already. He didn't even live up to the minimum specs of "Assassin's Creed" which I bought to keep me company over the coming hols. I'm also looking forward to picking up "Mass Effect" for PC which should be launching in a couple of weeks, just in time for when I'll be slightly freer to game on again.
So as soon as I'm able to get some time off, I'm donning my geek glasses and pocket protector and heading off to the market for some serious hardware upgrades. At this time, I wonder if Vista is worth investing in? Full DX-10 functionality... tempting.
Yay! Long weekend! Took my first Saturday off this entire term. Really been looking forward to it since quite a while ago. Had a most fruitful time cuddling up with essays to mark, with more essays to look forward to today and tomorrow's public holiday as well. If I'm good, I'll be done with this entire batch of essay marking by late afternoon tomorrow. Then I can sort of rest until the mid-year exam essays arrive at the end of the week. Have to earn my June hols, don't you know?
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Looking at the PW results some colleges have been able to achieve in the previous project work cycle, it's easy to get the impression that an 'A' grade in the subject is a dime-a-dozen, and that there's some kind of magic formula that when followed makes scoring top marks possible. Perhaps there is, perhaps there is a way to template the perfect project, and it's tempting to do so for the sake of the grade. But I don't see the point of following a formula as if there was only one single solution to every problem we're going to encounter in life.
A template is like a join-the-dots puzzle, success involves just pencilling a line from digit to digit. So the 'A' grade via template is just an acknowledgement of how well the kids followed their instructions. How difficult can that be, tracing a pre-determined path tocreate derive a pre-determined picture? What a surprise! When a toddler is able to do this we remark how clever it is. These are college students we are dealing with. What's an 'A' worth these days?
Which is why I get disturbed when I hear tell of students' proposals getting rejected outright and sent back to the drawing board because the proposal didn't live up to the super's pre-conceived expectations. We're supposed to be working with the students on this, not against them. So I'm not surprised when some kids eventually see the whole thing as a waste of time, because literally what amounts to hours of work gets summarily dismissed and there's no progress to show for it. They get bored, resentful, and lose confidence in their project. When it's time to make their presentations that's what gets reflected. Ironically, aming for an 'A' grade like this becomes counter-productive to both the grade and the learning behind it.
Fortunately, the groups I have seem motivated and have delivered creative and meticulously crafted proposals, so I don't have to worry too much over WHAT they are planning. I'll keep an eye on them to see HOW they are carrying out their plans, but at least they're off and running already. I can do my real job of supervision by managing group dynamics and being basically a cheerleader and resource for them, but I have firmly taken my hands off the micromanagement controls and am letting them run the nitty-gritty on their own.
I already have a group dysfunction to manage -- mainly a self-interest vs group-interest conflict -- but this is where the super's real work begins. Of course there will be conflicts; that's what we were hoping for when we threw separate individuals together to work as a group. How the different personality types learn to speak up and settle their differences, come to agreement and focus on a common goal, then work in cooperation with each other and build bonds based on the trust that accumulates as they pass milestone after milestone together. That's the most important lesson to learn from PW. If the kids learn this early enough, there'll be enough time to put together an impressive, professional presentation that deserves an 'A' from start to finish. That will be an 'A' to be proud of.
A template is like a join-the-dots puzzle, success involves just pencilling a line from digit to digit. So the 'A' grade via template is just an acknowledgement of how well the kids followed their instructions. How difficult can that be, tracing a pre-determined path to
Which is why I get disturbed when I hear tell of students' proposals getting rejected outright and sent back to the drawing board because the proposal didn't live up to the super's pre-conceived expectations. We're supposed to be working with the students on this, not against them. So I'm not surprised when some kids eventually see the whole thing as a waste of time, because literally what amounts to hours of work gets summarily dismissed and there's no progress to show for it. They get bored, resentful, and lose confidence in their project. When it's time to make their presentations that's what gets reflected. Ironically, aming for an 'A' grade like this becomes counter-productive to both the grade and the learning behind it.
Fortunately, the groups I have seem motivated and have delivered creative and meticulously crafted proposals, so I don't have to worry too much over WHAT they are planning. I'll keep an eye on them to see HOW they are carrying out their plans, but at least they're off and running already. I can do my real job of supervision by managing group dynamics and being basically a cheerleader and resource for them, but I have firmly taken my hands off the micromanagement controls and am letting them run the nitty-gritty on their own.
I already have a group dysfunction to manage -- mainly a self-interest vs group-interest conflict -- but this is where the super's real work begins. Of course there will be conflicts; that's what we were hoping for when we threw separate individuals together to work as a group. How the different personality types learn to speak up and settle their differences, come to agreement and focus on a common goal, then work in cooperation with each other and build bonds based on the trust that accumulates as they pass milestone after milestone together. That's the most important lesson to learn from PW. If the kids learn this early enough, there'll be enough time to put together an impressive, professional presentation that deserves an 'A' from start to finish. That will be an 'A' to be proud of.
It's the end of the Drama season! Time to dress up, break out the sparkly juice, and laugh our brains out till late.As riotous a time as we could have sans alcohol, we lived it up and bade farewell to the J2s in an evening of finger-foods, fun and games.
The incoming J1s who organised the party did well with their logistics and timekeeping precision. Their games were hilarious to play, except the one where I got my instructions confused and instantly self-immolated on my first utterance. Well-rigged, ppl!
Nice to see how this bunch of Drama kids took to improv. They haven't entirely got the theory right, but they were enthusiastically launching themselves into their assigned characters with minimal think time. Five different improv groups playing out five different scenarios, each group presenting a different playing style as best suits their collective personalities. Could be the basis of a set of rules for a new improv game! Hmm...
Kids finally got to see themselves on Drama Night. We sped through video highlights of both "Admiral" and "Walls", and it was funny to hear them groan at their own performance. As Wayne said later, "good actors don't like to watch themselves act," and the kids must be living up to that latest Waynism.
Gonna miss the zany but committed J2s, looking forward to working with the meticulous J1s. Not sure if there are any crazies among them, but I guess I'll find out soon.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Many thanks to everyone from x32 for the off-beat, unexpected and totally sweet thing y'all did for me today. It took a lot of effort and much thoughtfulness, and I really appreciate it very much. Even we staff need positive feedback at times -- yours came unsolicited, and right out of the blue. And, yes, in case you've been wondering, I've been off medication for almost a week already, and I hope that means the worst is over.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
An end to two items on my weekly schedule. The first is the Drama competition which ended early this afternoon; the second, my 6-week self-leadership course which I have been faithfully attempting to follow as a personal commitment.
Our drama entry played exactly as I've seen it rehearsed many times over. It was as competent and as polished as it's ever going to get, though perhaps I'm seeing it through the eyes of someone who's seen the repeats once too many times.
I hope I'm wrong, 'cos the kids put in so much time, effort, and much of their lives into this production, but I'm going to be conservative about our chances at a top award this year. For me, the play looked so polished that it lost it's sense of 'reality' which was what was so strong about it to begin with. Well, better over-prepared and over-rehearsed than under, I suppose.
The other thing is the course I'm taking with a number of staff from across the departments. Apart from the key concepts of mentorship and rapport-building through both theory discussions and practical application, my best takeaway is in having made new friends from fellow staff I would generally not have had a need to talk to as part of my daily routine. Because everyone was keen to learn and participate, it was actually fun to play the games and open up about our current challenges and future goals to get affirmation and support from each other.
And now it almost feels like half the year is over already. Wow.
Our drama entry played exactly as I've seen it rehearsed many times over. It was as competent and as polished as it's ever going to get, though perhaps I'm seeing it through the eyes of someone who's seen the repeats once too many times.
I hope I'm wrong, 'cos the kids put in so much time, effort, and much of their lives into this production, but I'm going to be conservative about our chances at a top award this year. For me, the play looked so polished that it lost it's sense of 'reality' which was what was so strong about it to begin with. Well, better over-prepared and over-rehearsed than under, I suppose.
The other thing is the course I'm taking with a number of staff from across the departments. Apart from the key concepts of mentorship and rapport-building through both theory discussions and practical application, my best takeaway is in having made new friends from fellow staff I would generally not have had a need to talk to as part of my daily routine. Because everyone was keen to learn and participate, it was actually fun to play the games and open up about our current challenges and future goals to get affirmation and support from each other.
And now it almost feels like half the year is over already. Wow.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Big college concert night at the Conference Hall. I'm no big fan of sit-down symphonic music but it helped that the band played lively, upbeat, familiar tunes that kept the mood light and happy. The concert combined the strings of the traditional guzheng with European wind and percussion instruments for something of a fusion performance. It wasn't entirely perfect, a bit more rehearsal time would have helped smoothen out the blend better. Nevertheless, it was a credible enough show for me to be absorbed into the music and enjoy the evening.
'Peter and the Wolf' turned out amazingly cute, as I'd expected. The props makers spared no effort in creating a huge cardboard set comprising a massive tree, a reed bank to represent the edge of a pond, a working gate and a little farmhouse, all cut and painted from old packing crates. The cast's enthusiasm in playing their characters won over the crowd, particularly the bird who kept flitting and flapping almost right through the entire piece, wowing us with her endurance and stamina. It was a nice touch to introduce colour and movement to the concert, and we did appreciate the variety.
Among the audience was this bunch from x17 who, like everyone else, was busy taking photos after the concert was over. Well, I had my camera with me too, so I guess I was no different.
Oh, before the concert, Mel, Wayne and I quite confirmed that around Shenton Way on Saturday evening, there's practically nothing to eat. All potential eateries have closed and it's easy to starve on the street there and then.
Fortunately, we stumbled upon Honjin Japanese Restaurant, still open for business on Robinson Road. For its location, the prices aren't too bad, between $18-28 for a teishoku bento.
The decor is entirely Jap, right down to the wait staff dressed in yukata. The illusion ends there, though, 'cos they don't walk at all Japanese, and while polite, their accents betray a more local, heartland origin.
But who cares? The food is good (yummy, juicy sukiyaki beef) with a generous array of sides, chawanmushi inclusive. Yay! One more place to eat at!
'Peter and the Wolf' turned out amazingly cute, as I'd expected. The props makers spared no effort in creating a huge cardboard set comprising a massive tree, a reed bank to represent the edge of a pond, a working gate and a little farmhouse, all cut and painted from old packing crates. The cast's enthusiasm in playing their characters won over the crowd, particularly the bird who kept flitting and flapping almost right through the entire piece, wowing us with her endurance and stamina. It was a nice touch to introduce colour and movement to the concert, and we did appreciate the variety.
Among the audience was this bunch from x17 who, like everyone else, was busy taking photos after the concert was over. Well, I had my camera with me too, so I guess I was no different.Oh, before the concert, Mel, Wayne and I quite confirmed that around Shenton Way on Saturday evening, there's practically nothing to eat. All potential eateries have closed and it's easy to starve on the street there and then.
Fortunately, we stumbled upon Honjin Japanese Restaurant, still open for business on Robinson Road. For its location, the prices aren't too bad, between $18-28 for a teishoku bento.
The decor is entirely Jap, right down to the wait staff dressed in yukata. The illusion ends there, though, 'cos they don't walk at all Japanese, and while polite, their accents betray a more local, heartland origin.
But who cares? The food is good (yummy, juicy sukiyaki beef) with a generous array of sides, chawanmushi inclusive. Yay! One more place to eat at!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Unplanned double date at Izakaya Nijumaru where we shared a table with Jamie (June's colleague), and bf. The first thing we saw as we entered was the sushi bar, the second was a friendly hand waving at us to make up a foursome.
Located at Cuppage Centre, the premises are rustic Japanese with bamboo highlights. Furniture is rough and ready, and the place overall looks more robust than fine in the way we think Jap cuisine should be.
The house teishoku featured saba, pork stew and a prawn tempura. I sampled some of the saba and pork from June's set. Both tasted as strong as they were chunky, fish oil mixing with pork fat sent my tastebuds into overload. Not subtle, but a working man's meal that was. Definitely too strong for miladies' delicate constitutions, they didn't have very good things to say about it.
I was conservative and opted for the sashimi set. Three thick slices each of tuna, maguro and yellowtail(?); a side of French beans fried in egg; rice and miso. No complaints from me about what I ordered. As long as the fish is fresh and the wasabi sings in my ears, I'm good to go. Besides, I was hungry.
Price: reasonable. Two sets and a chawanmushi set me back $42 plus tax.
Edit 01:
Oops. Blinded by optimism, I misinterpreted the tournement bowling scores. It was an even draw between us and our opponents, sharing 10 points each. Our overall scratch pinfalls actually dropped and we've been knocked off the top-3 high scratch series score. We've not improved our position on the league table either. BUT we actually drew with the current fifth place team, so there's still hope yet to finish this year about mid-table.
Located at Cuppage Centre, the premises are rustic Japanese with bamboo highlights. Furniture is rough and ready, and the place overall looks more robust than fine in the way we think Jap cuisine should be.
The house teishoku featured saba, pork stew and a prawn tempura. I sampled some of the saba and pork from June's set. Both tasted as strong as they were chunky, fish oil mixing with pork fat sent my tastebuds into overload. Not subtle, but a working man's meal that was. Definitely too strong for miladies' delicate constitutions, they didn't have very good things to say about it.
I was conservative and opted for the sashimi set. Three thick slices each of tuna, maguro and yellowtail(?); a side of French beans fried in egg; rice and miso. No complaints from me about what I ordered. As long as the fish is fresh and the wasabi sings in my ears, I'm good to go. Besides, I was hungry.
Price: reasonable. Two sets and a chawanmushi set me back $42 plus tax.
Edit 01:
Oops. Blinded by optimism, I misinterpreted the tournement bowling scores. It was an even draw between us and our opponents, sharing 10 points each. Our overall scratch pinfalls actually dropped and we've been knocked off the top-3 high scratch series score. We've not improved our position on the league table either. BUT we actually drew with the current fifth place team, so there's still hope yet to finish this year about mid-table.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
All I ask at the end of this day is rest. And after a long day of switching hats every other hour -- such is my schedule on Wednesday -- that's exactly what I'm doing. Absolutely nothing. Perhaps except contemplating which game to play on Mr L33t until my eyes bug out. And then I'll probably be too lazy to even slot in the requisite CD-ROM and instead go to sleep. Hey, I deserve it.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Asthma or no, when duty calls, el capitain must still show up at the lanes and bowl his set. Team comprising me, Ton_y and Andy did ok today. Our opponents were pretty evenly matched with us, but they got tired at the last game. We have a chance of earning some decent points and climbing out of the depths we've begun in.
My average dropped a bit to 157 over four games, but it looks more realistic now. Overall, our total pinfalls is better than our last game's, improving by about a hundred. As usual, official results should be out by late Thursday.
My average dropped a bit to 157 over four games, but it looks more realistic now. Overall, our total pinfalls is better than our last game's, improving by about a hundred. As usual, official results should be out by late Thursday.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Follow up visit with Doc Toh was inconclusive. Can't establish much else other than that the drugs are working and I'm still breathing (though, he says, at 85-90%). Advised to continue pill-popping regimen while my supplies last, and just keep monitoring. I suppose in this case, no news is good news.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Breathing difficulties have resurfaced after a year, especially bad today. Doc Toh is concerned, and mystified, as am I about the cause. He's decided to treat the symptoms as adult-onset asthma. Gave me a whole bunch of pills to take, mostly anti-inflammatories and a steroid to keep the airways open. Review again with him tomorrow evening. This isn't funny.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Concert Band's performing Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." Traditionally, there's a little drama to go with this piece, illustrating the role each major instrument plays in the orchestra. Through simple association, the bird represents the piccolo, grumpy Gramps represents the bassoon, the trigger-happy hunters represent the kettle-drums, and so on. As the instruments interweave their themes through the score, the story of how brave Peter captures a voracious wolf prowling around the farm comes to life before the audience's eyes.
HP brought me in to see how her actors could learn to move like the characters they are playing. The kids and I had quite a workout as we practiced the walks of different animals and human character types. We really worked the knees and thighs as I decided to base all movement on variations of the demi plie in third for a uniform look. So demonstrating and practicing how to walk, run, jump and fly on the half crouched vertical position soon translated into cramps all up and down my quads.
But never mind me. The kids are looking stiff and slightly uncoordinated since these movements are new to them. They've understood their basic stances and ambulations, but it's going to take some practice before they make their movements confident and smooth. Hope they work hard over the weekend, and learn to use the music too. After all, it's their first taste of classic French mime based on classical ballet.
I'll check in on them again soon. They only have one week to put it all together.
HP brought me in to see how her actors could learn to move like the characters they are playing. The kids and I had quite a workout as we practiced the walks of different animals and human character types. We really worked the knees and thighs as I decided to base all movement on variations of the demi plie in third for a uniform look. So demonstrating and practicing how to walk, run, jump and fly on the half crouched vertical position soon translated into cramps all up and down my quads.
But never mind me. The kids are looking stiff and slightly uncoordinated since these movements are new to them. They've understood their basic stances and ambulations, but it's going to take some practice before they make their movements confident and smooth. Hope they work hard over the weekend, and learn to use the music too. After all, it's their first taste of classic French mime based on classical ballet.
I'll check in on them again soon. They only have one week to put it all together.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
If "Iron Man" is anything to go by, we can expect a summer season of big action thrills. Familiar names, though they may be, this summer's movies are going to prove that there's a lot of mileage left in the characters we admired when we were kids.I never cared much for Iron Man. The name didn't strike a chord with me, but of all the pantheon of superheroes, he seemed like the easiest to draw. A basically human shape, a yellow-and-red colour scheme and a completely expressionless face kind'a like this --> {-_-}, and there was a costumed crimefighter I could reproduce on pages of jotter book paper, even when my artwork skill was just about zero.
In the comic books, IM a.k.a. Tony Stark, is one of the most flawed, troubled persons to wage war on crime. His heart's liable to give out any minute, he was a warning as to how substance abuse can destroy lives, and lately in the Civil War story arc, he comes off as a self-righteous jerk with the expertise to make his fascistic plans a reality. And yet, Stark fights for the very best of reasons, doing what he feels is necessary to right the injustices inflicted upon the world.
Robert Downey Jr plays a convincing Tony Stark, complete with goatee beard. Downey Jr is himself a troubled celebrity so he should understand the role quite well, though Stark has a slight advantage being a design, engineering, robotics genius.
The movie is action-thrill all the way. The televised footage of Afghan captors displaying Stark as their latest hostage is reminiscent of many other hostage displays in real-life. It's just uplifting when Stark turns the terror on his captors while escaping captivity, and the retribution he exacts on them later during his rescue of a besieged village is pure lizard-brain elation. Yes, it's fantasy, but it's always a rush to see the bullied fight back and win.
But that's just the sideshow for the battle about to take place, this time a little closer to home...
Stark has everything he wants, but what he needs he has to keep at arms' length. He's a war-monger hoping to bring peace to the world. He's a dying man with a never-say-die spirit. A good boy, and a bad boy all at the same time. Welcome to a world of contradictions embodied in the man who wears the armour. Iron Man. Cool.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Got a look at the SYF venue where we're performing 'Walls' once again. It was a gigantic stage, at this moment still under construction, but it should be quite finished in the next two weeks.
I was to help plot the lights at this new venue, but the two lighting crew learned to operate the light board so quickly, I decided to fire myself so as not to get in their way.
It felt quite good to be useless as the rest of the time I was just enjoying the antics on stage and not having to worry that anything was going to go awry. Everyone knew their jobs, and they were doing just great. If only CCA was always this easy.
BTW, I updated "6 impossible things..." today with another K&I post. Should also be good for GP. Have a look if you want.
I was to help plot the lights at this new venue, but the two lighting crew learned to operate the light board so quickly, I decided to fire myself so as not to get in their way.
It felt quite good to be useless as the rest of the time I was just enjoying the antics on stage and not having to worry that anything was going to go awry. Everyone knew their jobs, and they were doing just great. If only CCA was always this easy.
BTW, I updated "6 impossible things..." today with another K&I post. Should also be good for GP. Have a look if you want.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Now that there's a movement to make kids belt up in school buses, we've lost yet another of our potential kids' playgrounds for before and after school entertainment. Gone are the days when we rambunctious toddlers would run up and down the narrow aisle to "socialize" with the other kids. Dad once said he knew I was coming home from school because he could hear the bus long before it pulled into view.
The school bus was fun. Early in the morning, it was the one last sanctuary before another long, dreary day at school stuck behind my desk. If I got sleepy, I'd just doze off only to be rudely awakened by the occasional e-brake stop, the momentum smashing my face against the steel back of the seat in front, or the loose side-window would abruptly slam shut against my forehead. At that, I'd blink blearily before drifting back off to sleep until the next e-brake. I think I spent much of my schooling life looking like an abused child, but no one at that time dared to ask about my domestic situation. Parents, kids and teachers knew their roles back then.
En route home, sleep wasn't as much a priority as playing cards with the gang (we played "Top Trumps", not poker), or playing catching over and around the seats, or beating up on the moron kicking the back of my seat 'cos he was bored and looking for a punch-up to pass the time. We had a saint of a bus driver who stoically kept drivin' on while Chaos ruled the rear compartment.
Now, if the seat-belt thing becomes law, all the little kiddies will be strapped into their transport like raw cargo being delivered to the processing plant. I imagine if they can't let off steam physically, mentally they'll be screaming for the loss of yet another outlet of youthfulaggression expression. And woe betide seat partners if they can't stand each other. As soon as they reach school and the seat-belts come off, the only way to separate the two is with a crowbar, and only after a few solid whacks to soften the resistance.
Yes, I know there's a safety concern, so there's a good reason for safety belts. And I'm not trying to make light of the recent tragedy. But I am glad I'm not a child today.
The school bus was fun. Early in the morning, it was the one last sanctuary before another long, dreary day at school stuck behind my desk. If I got sleepy, I'd just doze off only to be rudely awakened by the occasional e-brake stop, the momentum smashing my face against the steel back of the seat in front, or the loose side-window would abruptly slam shut against my forehead. At that, I'd blink blearily before drifting back off to sleep until the next e-brake. I think I spent much of my schooling life looking like an abused child, but no one at that time dared to ask about my domestic situation. Parents, kids and teachers knew their roles back then.
En route home, sleep wasn't as much a priority as playing cards with the gang (we played "Top Trumps", not poker), or playing catching over and around the seats, or beating up on the moron kicking the back of my seat 'cos he was bored and looking for a punch-up to pass the time. We had a saint of a bus driver who stoically kept drivin' on while Chaos ruled the rear compartment.
Now, if the seat-belt thing becomes law, all the little kiddies will be strapped into their transport like raw cargo being delivered to the processing plant. I imagine if they can't let off steam physically, mentally they'll be screaming for the loss of yet another outlet of youthful
Yes, I know there's a safety concern, so there's a good reason for safety belts. And I'm not trying to make light of the recent tragedy. But I am glad I'm not a child today.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
As a PW Supervisor, I have a particular job to do that my students have not yet quite understood. And this misunderstanding is causing lots of frustration on both sides. My role is not to APprove projects, but rather to IMprove them. So while they send me proposal draft after draft, hoping that I will at some point say, "that's it! That's perfect!", that's not what's going to happen. I will always find ways to make the proposal better. The disparity is that the students see their projects as a destination whereas I see them as a continuum. There IS no end in sight. Honest.
Why it's so frustrating is because the students tend to do what they're told. I keep telling and they keep doing and it never seems to be good enough. Every proposal gets sent back to the old drawing board, the old ogre is never satisfied, damn him! But, hey, if PW was simply about following instructions from some crotchety codger who doesn't know what he wants, then PW really should be scrapped as yet another redundant exam subject.
But the PW process is more about learning to think up a project and then think through it from the perspective of the one who will eventually be presented the project. Most students are satisfied accomplishing the former, and don't push on to even attempt the latter. Then when they receive feedback on their proposals, they think there's something wrong with themselves, or something wrong with the ideas, when most of the time, what they have is quite good enough.
What's missing is their ability to adequately communicate their ideas to the third party, and to see what they have written through the eyes and ears of their audience. This is the leap in thinking ability they have to make in order to succeed at PW. They need to articulate their ideas clearly and coherently, anticipate queries and potential objections, and project an air of confidence that they have done their homework, and competence in the area of work they wish to undertake. Some professionalism in the way they they present their materials won't hurt either.
If they could just try to read what they themselves have written, distancing themselves from their own authorship, and critique their own proposals from a third-party perspective, ask themselves the hard questions and prepare to answer them, then they won't need me any longer, and they can start working for themselves at last. Perhaps then they will see that I'm less tough on them than they will be on themselves.
Until then, it's like I'm driving a school bus and the kids inside keep asking, "are we there yet?" All I'm doing is driving, I'm not going anywhere except down the road. Hopefully, at some point, the kids will quit watching the scenery and poking each other, but instead watch me as I turn the wheel, upshift, downshift, accelerate and brake. And when they finally get it, they'll get off at the next bus stop, climb into their own vehicles and trundle off -- on their own -- towards a destination of their own choice. These will be the successful kids.
Why it's so frustrating is because the students tend to do what they're told. I keep telling and they keep doing and it never seems to be good enough. Every proposal gets sent back to the old drawing board, the old ogre is never satisfied, damn him! But, hey, if PW was simply about following instructions from some crotchety codger who doesn't know what he wants, then PW really should be scrapped as yet another redundant exam subject.
But the PW process is more about learning to think up a project and then think through it from the perspective of the one who will eventually be presented the project. Most students are satisfied accomplishing the former, and don't push on to even attempt the latter. Then when they receive feedback on their proposals, they think there's something wrong with themselves, or something wrong with the ideas, when most of the time, what they have is quite good enough.
What's missing is their ability to adequately communicate their ideas to the third party, and to see what they have written through the eyes and ears of their audience. This is the leap in thinking ability they have to make in order to succeed at PW. They need to articulate their ideas clearly and coherently, anticipate queries and potential objections, and project an air of confidence that they have done their homework, and competence in the area of work they wish to undertake. Some professionalism in the way they they present their materials won't hurt either.
If they could just try to read what they themselves have written, distancing themselves from their own authorship, and critique their own proposals from a third-party perspective, ask themselves the hard questions and prepare to answer them, then they won't need me any longer, and they can start working for themselves at last. Perhaps then they will see that I'm less tough on them than they will be on themselves.
Until then, it's like I'm driving a school bus and the kids inside keep asking, "are we there yet?" All I'm doing is driving, I'm not going anywhere except down the road. Hopefully, at some point, the kids will quit watching the scenery and poking each other, but instead watch me as I turn the wheel, upshift, downshift, accelerate and brake. And when they finally get it, they'll get off at the next bus stop, climb into their own vehicles and trundle off -- on their own -- towards a destination of their own choice. These will be the successful kids.
Friday, April 25, 2008
So completely brain-dead that "Superhero Movie" was the perfect weekend therapy. Full of cheap sight gags, toilet humour and frothing over with sophomoric innuendo, SM proves that the line is indeed fine between heroism and hilarity.
SM takes the basic script of "Spider-Man", though the protagonist, Rick Riker, is more tragic than hero. Brought up believing that he is destined for saving-the-world, do-gooder stuff, the harder he tries to be a hero, the more misfortune he brings to others.
Unfortunately for Riker, his sources of inspiration are his Uncle and Aunt whom he lives with. Both spout inane advice, but his Aunt in particular speaks in such cliched platitudes that her flatulence carries more authority and impact in the movie.
The moral dilemma his nemesis, The Hourglass, faces is to use his life-absorbing power on one person a day, in order to gain sufficient energy to live one more day. So his decision is obviously clear: kill as many people as possible at one time to gain immortality. Duh!
I was in the mood to laugh my guts out, and so I did. But a crucial scene involving Riker's discovery of the true identity of The Hourglass was mysteriously censored (there was a notice at the box office to inform us to expect cuts) due to some offense against some religious issue. *shrugs. But the cut is so obvious that characters inexplicably jump locations and action, which probably offended my sense of continuity more than protected my religious sensibilities.
Oh, stay to watch the clips during the end credits if you must. They appear to be deleted scenes from the final edit. Just leave your brain at the door.
SM takes the basic script of "Spider-Man", though the protagonist, Rick Riker, is more tragic than hero. Brought up believing that he is destined for saving-the-world, do-gooder stuff, the harder he tries to be a hero, the more misfortune he brings to others.
Unfortunately for Riker, his sources of inspiration are his Uncle and Aunt whom he lives with. Both spout inane advice, but his Aunt in particular speaks in such cliched platitudes that her flatulence carries more authority and impact in the movie.
The moral dilemma his nemesis, The Hourglass, faces is to use his life-absorbing power on one person a day, in order to gain sufficient energy to live one more day. So his decision is obviously clear: kill as many people as possible at one time to gain immortality. Duh!
I was in the mood to laugh my guts out, and so I did. But a crucial scene involving Riker's discovery of the true identity of The Hourglass was mysteriously censored (there was a notice at the box office to inform us to expect cuts) due to some offense against some religious issue. *shrugs. But the cut is so obvious that characters inexplicably jump locations and action, which probably offended my sense of continuity more than protected my religious sensibilities.
Oh, stay to watch the clips during the end credits if you must. They appear to be deleted scenes from the final edit. Just leave your brain at the door.
Results from our last bowling session are very encouraging. Officially, the Boyz have climbed up one spot in the rankings to 15th of 16, plus we've won two special awards. Anthony got 2nd placing for his high game with handicap totalling 232 (including handicap 21), while the Team got 3rd placing in the team scratch series totalling 1811 pinfalls excluding handicap (i.e., we're overall the 3rd highest scoring team without adding our respective handicaps). Not bad at all!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The dog and rabbit "freelance police" team wraps up its second season with an extra-large helping of bizarre adventure. The usual pattern of a Sam & Max point-and-click game is to solve an initial set of three puzzles, thereby unlocking a final set of three new puzzles before the resolution. In this fifth installment, just when we think we're done, the adventure continues. After all, with a title like, "What's New, Beelzebub?", we should guess that a date with the big guy downstairs isn't going to be so straightforward to come back from and still look forward to a Season Three.While the puzzles are still the mundane trial-and-error approach of applying different inventory objects to hotspots on the screen to see what works, it's the snappy dialogue among all the characters that drives the comedy forward. Apart from Sam & Max themselves, I especially like the 10-foot tall killer robot who philosophizes about life using only snippets of song lyrics from the '80s. And Tiny Timmy, the rat, whose every other utterance is *bleeped* out because he suffers from Tourette's syndrome. One of the puzzles actually involves finding a way to un*bleep* his dialogue because a vital clue gets *bleeped* out along with the rest of his profanities. Hilarious.
Although Episode Five can stand on its own, it'll make more sense having played the four episodes before. Episode Five ties up all the loose ends in this Second Season, including all the odd time-travel paradoxes scattered around the previous four episodes, and resolves every cliffhanger as well -- such as where the molten lava disappeared to when the volcano erupted in Episode Two. Also, all the characters from both Seasons show up in one way or another, with some eyebrow-raising developments to some of the characters as well.
However, not everyone will be able to stomach the themes of Episode Five as it goes all out to make light of our beliefs about the afterlife and the torments that await us there. Best to slap a "Not Easily Offended" label on the game as fair warning to those who might be. Then again, if you were easily offended, you probably wouldn't be playing Sam & Max anyway.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Boyz are back on the lanes again. A last minute substitution brought back Anthony to the fold, so it was him, Victor and me today. Considering we haven't bowled in quite a while, I think we did decently well. I calculate my average to be 160+ over four games. But Anthony had to be the show-off and probably scored both the lowest scoring game (98) and an impressive 211, which after adding his handicap, could well total up to be the highest game of the day.
Official results will most likely be released on Thursday. I seriously hope we've managed to claw our way out of last place after tonight.
Official results will most likely be released on Thursday. I seriously hope we've managed to claw our way out of last place after tonight.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
This rare omen started the day for me on the opening night of Drama Night 2008.In contrast, instead of another auspicious sign from above before yesterday's closing show, we began with a problem. M2's battery died just as Mel and I were leaving campus to go to SRT.
That wasn't good 'cos we were carrying my laptop containing the 'Admiral' soundtrack, and we still had to swing through Gardens to collect some... perishable props for the show.
But from the crisis, the small swarm of staff crowding around M2 to lend a hand, give advice or provide moral support was simply heartwarming. There was Ho, who connected Lena's jumper cables to his car's battery, though that failed to produce a large enough jolt to get M2 started. Richard rode home to bring back his set of jumper cables and the truck he would be driving later that night. Wayne lent me his AA card to call roadside assistance, Jane came over to see what was the matter and sympathize, as did EmL. Jon drove Mel to collect our deep-fried bananas and then to the theatre on time even though he'd already been there the previous night. Pau drove over his SX-4 and with his industrial-strength cable, we finally brought M2 back to life. Wayne helped me text Richard that all's well so he wouldn't return to find he'd missed all the excitement. And Gurmit stayed with me till the end of the ordeal to make sure I didn't get a heart-attack or worse.
X-departments coming together to help a fellow colleague out; our campus is truly a kampong, and I'm so glad for it. Thanks everyone!
Once M2 got started, I drove straight to the Shell station in Gardens. There they quickly replaced my dead battery with this fluorescent green one (no, I didn't choose it myself, honest). Now my engine compartment looks like it's got some attitude.Anyway, Drama Night 08 has closed and we're a step closer to our college's professional theatrical credibility. Now that we've seen what our students can do in this venue, as Mel said, we can never go back to LT4.
Anyone wanna see the last of my Drama Night pix click here.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Opening night for NYeDC with four short plays for the price of one ticket.There's nothing like the excitement of playing to a packed house, and the SRT auditorium was just buzzing with it.
'Admiral' went off admirably, all cast and crew fully backing each other up. Great to see XYan (not in pix) take the lead and work so hard at being such a professional on stage, setting the example for her juniors to follow.
Hats off too, to the rest of the cast who have been likewise working hard at line memory, movement and speech delivery; but most importantly in being so supportive of one another and of the 'Walls' team as well.
Not surprisingly, our audence had a hard time comprehending our abstract piece. I had lots of questions about it during the interval, and I found myself over-intellectualizing our interpretation as I tried to explain it to Lynette and Haze. Even I started getting confused with my explanation after a while, so I just ran with whatever impressions they got from it... which wasn't really that far off. What was gratifying was that they did respond to the little running sight gags we engineered into Kuo's script. Those they got.
As for 'Walls', the audience could better relate to the more realistic presentation. There was little to interpret as it was a straightforward in-your-face portrayal of young people in quite some serious pain.The audience appreciated the stunningly real explosion of emotion onstage, and it even amazes me that rehearsal after rehearsal, the cast can sustain being the characters they play without degenerating their portrayals into mere 'acting'.
'Walls' is a wonderfuly therapeutic piece for people with psychological baggage.
Drama Night 2008 closes tonight. It's been a memorable run. We seldom say it outright, but we have some great kids on campus.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Forgive the obsession with Drama Night. It's taken over my life this week and I'm exhausted. For the first time, I wiped out at my desk during lunch break, completely zoned out in la-la land. Mel said that even the ruckus she and a bunch of others were making fooling around with a toy lightsabre in the staffroom didn't rouse me at all. I was that far gone.
Full-dress rehearsal went fabulously well for 'Admiral'. As I had hoped, the cast went home depressed last night but returned prepared to take on the new level of performance they'd been challenged with. Apart from a couple of wardrobe malfunctions and a few line gaffes, when they were on, they were spot on. Finally I got to see crisp, clean, coordinated movement, which shows they've been practicing. Very, very proud of everyone involved onstage and off. Only one more day to up the bar just a little higher. They're ready.
Btw, SRT's advertising our show in their eNewsletter. But we now have the enviable privilege of announcing that tomorrow we open to a full house! Both nights are sold out now, many thanks to the college and everyone else who bought a ticket for supporting us!
Full-dress rehearsal went fabulously well for 'Admiral'. As I had hoped, the cast went home depressed last night but returned prepared to take on the new level of performance they'd been challenged with. Apart from a couple of wardrobe malfunctions and a few line gaffes, when they were on, they were spot on. Finally I got to see crisp, clean, coordinated movement, which shows they've been practicing. Very, very proud of everyone involved onstage and off. Only one more day to up the bar just a little higher. They're ready.
Btw, SRT's advertising our show in their eNewsletter. But we now have the enviable privilege of announcing that tomorrow we open to a full house! Both nights are sold out now, many thanks to the college and everyone else who bought a ticket for supporting us!
'Admiral' kids and 'Walls' kids have finally seen each others' plays. 'Admiral' kids are feeling inferior as 'Walls' is quite obviously more dramatic, more heartrending, more colourful, and more meticulously put together. This is undeniable. 'Walls' kids have been at it for much longer. They wrote their own script and based much of the drama on their own feelings and emotions. Their words are real to them, even if the situation is fictitious, and the script calls for full emoting of anger, angst and pain. In that sense, 'Walls' is realistic and direct.
Have to explain to 'Admiral' kids that their play is quite different in intent and form. Rather than emoting, they have to intellectualize their characters' experiences and abstract rather than feel their expression. While the pain is no less real, they have to interpret it through their text and movement rather than through the natural emotional outlets of shouting, screaming and crying. Therefore, their demands are quite different, requiring more control and precision timing to tell their story.
'Admiral' is after all a movement piece, the text seldom matching the action exactly word-for-word. This piece is really going to be tough going for the cast, and for the audience. Considering how far they've managed to come in the time they've had, I'm actually quite proud of them already. But now that they've seen 'Walls', we've raised the bar. Let's see that as a positive, a spur to take our performance up a notch. The time for a quantum leap is here!
Have to explain to 'Admiral' kids that their play is quite different in intent and form. Rather than emoting, they have to intellectualize their characters' experiences and abstract rather than feel their expression. While the pain is no less real, they have to interpret it through their text and movement rather than through the natural emotional outlets of shouting, screaming and crying. Therefore, their demands are quite different, requiring more control and precision timing to tell their story.
'Admiral' is after all a movement piece, the text seldom matching the action exactly word-for-word. This piece is really going to be tough going for the cast, and for the audience. Considering how far they've managed to come in the time they've had, I'm actually quite proud of them already. But now that they've seen 'Walls', we've raised the bar. Let's see that as a positive, a spur to take our performance up a notch. The time for a quantum leap is here!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Edit 01:
Drama Night 08 Rehearsal
Opening week for Drama Night. One last rehearsal on campus, then tomorrow we bump in at SRT. I notice that I haven't got any production pix of Admiral. I've been so busy directing, I've forgotten to make a photo record of the process. Hope Mel is up to holding a camera tonight. It's our last chance to capture our work-in-progress.
Drama Night 08 Rehearsal
Opening week for Drama Night. One last rehearsal on campus, then tomorrow we bump in at SRT. I notice that I haven't got any production pix of Admiral. I've been so busy directing, I've forgotten to make a photo record of the process. Hope Mel is up to holding a camera tonight. It's our last chance to capture our work-in-progress.
Only three more nights to curtain...
Saturday, April 12, 2008
To discover not by seeking new landscapes but by seeing with new eyes. This idea is the basis of a new training programme I began this morning. From an exploration of our personal and professional motivations, inclinations and competencies, we will be learning to focus on our current goals in life and set new ones if necessary. The final stage will, of course, train us how to achieve those targets.
The overall premise is that if I'm going to take on any kind of leadership role, I have to learn to manage my Self better. Here, the concept of leadership is reduced to its most essential definition: to understand needs, set goals, construct a strategy, motivate the group (or Self) to follow and do their part, celebrate the achievement, evaluate the strategy and the goal achieved, reflect on the experience... and then the cycle begins again with a new awareness of new needs and new goals.
So I'm at the starting point where my first task is to look inward to understand my immediate context. Basically the 'who am I', 'what do I want', 'what am I doing here' type questions. This shouldn't be too difficult. I'm already so inward looking, the only way I can see out is through a chink in my navel.
No, wait. There is a small difficulty there after all. When I look inside myself I know I'm looking at an image that's as warped and distorted as a reflection in a circus funhouse mirror. A lot of what I perceive of the world and of my relationships with others is coloured with the hues of my personal neuroses and psychoses. I'm pretty sure reality is only half as dramatic and twice more mundane than I make it out to be.
In order to get started on this journey then, I have to start getting honest with myself. I need new eyes to see things and people as they really are. Clean out the palette, get a new, clean sheet of canvas.
From tabula rasa, let me begin again. Let me recognize that I have already arrived at my destination from my previous journey. I already am where I want to be. But I have new discoveries to make still. Right now, what they are is not clear, but it is time to start planning a new journey, even if all that really means is acquiring new eyes.
Most important 'takeaway' from today's session for me is the formula BE+DO=HAVE. It's trite, but there's some sense to it. We struggle to reach our goals by DOing so much and repeated DOing seems to get us nowhere except frustrated. Then maybe we give it up as a bad idea, when it may not have been at all. But DOing is only half of the equation. To BE is to put ourselves in a position or a condition to receive what we want. No point futilely DOing with a clenched fist if the hand isn't open enough to take when the opportunity comes. Also, DOing without BEing could potentially scare opportunity away.
Fine. I don't like motivational speakers or their programmes but I'll take a chance on these guys.
The overall premise is that if I'm going to take on any kind of leadership role, I have to learn to manage my Self better. Here, the concept of leadership is reduced to its most essential definition: to understand needs, set goals, construct a strategy, motivate the group (or Self) to follow and do their part, celebrate the achievement, evaluate the strategy and the goal achieved, reflect on the experience... and then the cycle begins again with a new awareness of new needs and new goals.
So I'm at the starting point where my first task is to look inward to understand my immediate context. Basically the 'who am I', 'what do I want', 'what am I doing here' type questions. This shouldn't be too difficult. I'm already so inward looking, the only way I can see out is through a chink in my navel.
No, wait. There is a small difficulty there after all. When I look inside myself I know I'm looking at an image that's as warped and distorted as a reflection in a circus funhouse mirror. A lot of what I perceive of the world and of my relationships with others is coloured with the hues of my personal neuroses and psychoses. I'm pretty sure reality is only half as dramatic and twice more mundane than I make it out to be.
In order to get started on this journey then, I have to start getting honest with myself. I need new eyes to see things and people as they really are. Clean out the palette, get a new, clean sheet of canvas.
From tabula rasa, let me begin again. Let me recognize that I have already arrived at my destination from my previous journey. I already am where I want to be. But I have new discoveries to make still. Right now, what they are is not clear, but it is time to start planning a new journey, even if all that really means is acquiring new eyes.
Most important 'takeaway' from today's session for me is the formula BE+DO=HAVE. It's trite, but there's some sense to it. We struggle to reach our goals by DOing so much and repeated DOing seems to get us nowhere except frustrated. Then maybe we give it up as a bad idea, when it may not have been at all. But DOing is only half of the equation. To BE is to put ourselves in a position or a condition to receive what we want. No point futilely DOing with a clenched fist if the hand isn't open enough to take when the opportunity comes. Also, DOing without BEing could potentially scare opportunity away.
Fine. I don't like motivational speakers or their programmes but I'll take a chance on these guys.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Synergy 08
An entertaining evening, with a slew of different music and dance performances, all vying for top spot in the debut of "Campus Got Talent". I must admit, we do have quite some talent among us -- rough, raw diamonds in the process of being cut and polished, and yet already able to raise such raucous and partisan support for themselves already. Impressive.
Among the musical items, beatboxing was a common theme. Made sense, since percussion is such a crucial accompaniment, yet such a rare skill, beatboxing makes a convenient substitute for a full drum set and a drummer.
The one anomaly in the programme was the magic show. His act was competent, but I'm even more impressed with the miracle he pulled off in not losing his cool with the multiple glitches the sound system was suffering through. His improvisational patter never let up and that show-face of his never lost its sparkle. In itself, his routine would have been interesting, but his choice of audience "volunteer", the P himself, turned the item into a laugh riot. The two were just going at it on stage trying to upstage each other, yet kept playing to the rules of the game. That made for some great comedic moments out of a potentially disastrous performance.
All in all, a night not too badly spent.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
No, dammit! Where do such people get off running down the industry like this? The letter writer may have been well-meaning, pointing out the flaws in our system, but his whiny tone grates on my nerves as he casually devalues everything we do as teachers, especially when he suggests that we spend most of our time and energy "padding our portfolios" instead of teaching. And if he is one of our own, I recommend he check his attitude at the door.
He's right about the marking. Barely into the second term and the leading edge of a tsunami of assignments has just struck the beachhead. I foresee the red-ink blood of innocent ball-points being spilled over the panicked chicken scratched foolscap sheets turning the ocean crimson, but that's exactly how we devise our "individualized instruction". Every assignment gets our full attention; every sarcastic comment we scrawl in the margin a personalized chastisement for merely whiffling at rather than actually hitting perfection.
But that's just the marking. My colleagues are out there in the corridors after hours consulting individual and small groups of students. How dare you insinuate that they aren't genuine in their concern for their students' efforts to learn as much as they can before the impending exams? We could be making a little extra on the side giving private tuition, but we're expending our time to teach our kids for free. If our kids get great results, our kids stand a better chance at aiming for better opportunities in life, so at the end of it, who is the happier for the time spent? A happy kid is worth way more than a fat portfolio... and the beauty of it is, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive.
The appraisal routine may be a structural flaw in the system, but it does not get in the way of the job. Neither does it invalidate the work we do. Who asked anybody to attend courses that are irrelevant to them either professionally or personally? Who asked anybody to initiate ideas they don't believe in or put forward just for show? If we don't have an interest to learn new tricks or try new ideas then what the heck are we teaching our kids? That knowledge is finite and conformity is the way to go? If that's the case, when we shudder every time we encounter instances of "padding" while vetting their graduation certs, we can't blame them at all. They were just following our example.
And such efforts ring so hollow, anyway. Who's going to believe a portfolio so full of such glaring holes? No wonder there are such disgruntled people as the letter writer. If I directed most of my efforts building this empty vacuum of nothingness, I'd be grabbing the nearest assault rifle and going postal too.
No doubt the job is tough. Every other job is too. And I know I'm not the hardest worker on campus (I have an award to prove it -- thanks, Taily and Que!). So many of my colleagues are slogging at it every day, and I will not tolerate without a response anyone disrespecting their committment with such impunity.
If the job's too tough, make yourselves happy and go. If you're simply concerned about stuffing your own portfolio, you're a bad example to our kids, so go. Please.
He's right about the marking. Barely into the second term and the leading edge of a tsunami of assignments has just struck the beachhead. I foresee the red-ink blood of innocent ball-points being spilled over the panicked chicken scratched foolscap sheets turning the ocean crimson, but that's exactly how we devise our "individualized instruction". Every assignment gets our full attention; every sarcastic comment we scrawl in the margin a personalized chastisement for merely whiffling at rather than actually hitting perfection.
But that's just the marking. My colleagues are out there in the corridors after hours consulting individual and small groups of students. How dare you insinuate that they aren't genuine in their concern for their students' efforts to learn as much as they can before the impending exams? We could be making a little extra on the side giving private tuition, but we're expending our time to teach our kids for free. If our kids get great results, our kids stand a better chance at aiming for better opportunities in life, so at the end of it, who is the happier for the time spent? A happy kid is worth way more than a fat portfolio... and the beauty of it is, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive.
The appraisal routine may be a structural flaw in the system, but it does not get in the way of the job. Neither does it invalidate the work we do. Who asked anybody to attend courses that are irrelevant to them either professionally or personally? Who asked anybody to initiate ideas they don't believe in or put forward just for show? If we don't have an interest to learn new tricks or try new ideas then what the heck are we teaching our kids? That knowledge is finite and conformity is the way to go? If that's the case, when we shudder every time we encounter instances of "padding" while vetting their graduation certs, we can't blame them at all. They were just following our example.
And such efforts ring so hollow, anyway. Who's going to believe a portfolio so full of such glaring holes? No wonder there are such disgruntled people as the letter writer. If I directed most of my efforts building this empty vacuum of nothingness, I'd be grabbing the nearest assault rifle and going postal too.
No doubt the job is tough. Every other job is too. And I know I'm not the hardest worker on campus (I have an award to prove it -- thanks, Taily and Que!). So many of my colleagues are slogging at it every day, and I will not tolerate without a response anyone disrespecting their committment with such impunity.
If the job's too tough, make yourselves happy and go. If you're simply concerned about stuffing your own portfolio, you're a bad example to our kids, so go. Please.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Boyz are back. The new Boyz, that is, bowling their guts out in our industry's annual bowling tournament. Due to personnel adjustments, the Boyz were missing in action for two years. I'm surprised we're still on the organizers' mailing lists.
The new Boyz comprise Ton_y, Victor and "Andy", who took to the lanes in our first game of the tourney. It's going to be a grueling year with games every fortnight from now till November. Fortunately, it's a trios league so one of us can rest while the other three bowl. I took the first break to accommodate Drama rehearsals.
Competition is tougher than ever this year. Our opposing teams are fielding serious bowlers with horrendously high averages. From the first game, we're already 16/16 in the standings, though I confess I haven't the faintest idea how the points scoring system works.
BTW, the old Boyz are welcome to swell the ranks of our current team if they can spare the time. More of us means longer rest breaks in between games, otherwise we'll be flat out by the end. But, regardless, our policy of bowling our guts out and laughing our heads off is still our raison d'etre.
The new Boyz comprise Ton_y, Victor and "Andy", who took to the lanes in our first game of the tourney. It's going to be a grueling year with games every fortnight from now till November. Fortunately, it's a trios league so one of us can rest while the other three bowl. I took the first break to accommodate Drama rehearsals.
Competition is tougher than ever this year. Our opposing teams are fielding serious bowlers with horrendously high averages. From the first game, we're already 16/16 in the standings, though I confess I haven't the faintest idea how the points scoring system works.
BTW, the old Boyz are welcome to swell the ranks of our current team if they can spare the time. More of us means longer rest breaks in between games, otherwise we'll be flat out by the end. But, regardless, our policy of bowling our guts out and laughing our heads off is still our raison d'etre.
Monday, April 07, 2008
I have nothing but the Admiral on my mind now. Curtain is little more than two weeks away, and rehearsals occupy most of my free hours. Two more weeks to hold out... and hopefully emerge from the experience with my sanity intact anyway.
Fact is, my cast has been truly amazing. They've been a joy to work with, considering that the majority of them, save one, claim they've never performed on stage before. From being too embarrassed to even twitch weeks earlier, they've since learned to improvise their own characters with the little bit of mime technique I been teaching them along the way.
I'm so proud of my JC1 cast members as well. Out of nowhere, they volunteered to do some choreography for me and today I have a snippet of a salsa dance number to throw into the mix as an added visual treat. That's kinda' representative of how we've taken the Admiral script with it's deeply emotional, occasionally self-absorbed monologues and given it our brand of bizarre weirdness. We like that. Yes.
The kids are having fun with the play, and that's awesome to see. Can we hold it all together when play becomes intense, backbreaking work over the coming fortnight? I really hope so. Admiral deserves to be the play everyone talks about when they remember Drama Night in the years to come. And I hope they'll remember it for the right reasons.
Fact is, my cast has been truly amazing. They've been a joy to work with, considering that the majority of them, save one, claim they've never performed on stage before. From being too embarrassed to even twitch weeks earlier, they've since learned to improvise their own characters with the little bit of mime technique I been teaching them along the way.
I'm so proud of my JC1 cast members as well. Out of nowhere, they volunteered to do some choreography for me and today I have a snippet of a salsa dance number to throw into the mix as an added visual treat. That's kinda' representative of how we've taken the Admiral script with it's deeply emotional, occasionally self-absorbed monologues and given it our brand of bizarre weirdness. We like that. Yes.
The kids are having fun with the play, and that's awesome to see. Can we hold it all together when play becomes intense, backbreaking work over the coming fortnight? I really hope so. Admiral deserves to be the play everyone talks about when they remember Drama Night in the years to come. And I hope they'll remember it for the right reasons.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
When the 'papers report that unlike our less well-off neighbours who respect their elderly folk, our aged clean toilets to fend for themselves; and that our young people are rich and can afford "lifestyle aspirations" according to their whims and fancies, what are we to conclude about our country?
While it's easy and tempting to assume that only the young have privilege at the expense of the elderly in S'pore, and that no one cares about people after their recommended shelf-life date expires, we should realise that the reports are about two extremes in our society.
We sympathise with the old folks struggling as best they can to make ends meet, but the focus of the Amex survey targetted only a handful of seriously wealthy professional tykes and their spending habits. Doubt Amex was interested in asking about their spending on philanthropical causes (if any) so we'll never know.
The rest of us are just normal, everyday schlubs, who do too worry about our rising costs. From food to the latest ERP charges, we're working our butts off just to get by. Like everyone else.
Ok, so maybe not like EVERYone else. We feel the pinch, we complain a lot, but we have enough going for us (for now, anyway) to opt for cheaper alternatives if we have to. What can the world's poor do when even staple food prices spike beyond reach?
A cheerful roundup of the weekend news... Goodnight, and sleep well!
While it's easy and tempting to assume that only the young have privilege at the expense of the elderly in S'pore, and that no one cares about people after their recommended shelf-life date expires, we should realise that the reports are about two extremes in our society.
We sympathise with the old folks struggling as best they can to make ends meet, but the focus of the Amex survey targetted only a handful of seriously wealthy professional tykes and their spending habits. Doubt Amex was interested in asking about their spending on philanthropical causes (if any) so we'll never know.
The rest of us are just normal, everyday schlubs, who do too worry about our rising costs. From food to the latest ERP charges, we're working our butts off just to get by. Like everyone else.
Ok, so maybe not like EVERYone else. We feel the pinch, we complain a lot, but we have enough going for us (for now, anyway) to opt for cheaper alternatives if we have to. What can the world's poor do when even staple food prices spike beyond reach?
A cheerful roundup of the weekend news... Goodnight, and sleep well!
Friday, April 04, 2008
That's Tim on the left. Tim's my nephew. Tim's showing off his newborn son, Thomas, to the clan. I have risen to the venerable rank of Grand Unclehood. OMG.
These are Myco and her parents, Tim's in-laws, who are also meeting the clan for the first time, hence the occasion for our clan gathering tonight.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Some of us who supervise Project Work (PW) labour under the misconception that a good project is necessarily exceptionally brilliant in terms of originality and innovation. They expect to see proposals the likes of which they have never seen before, that will solve a problem they've never heard of, in a way that they'll never understand. If the kids can't reach this standard of inventiveness in their Preliminary Ideas (PI) submission, it's back to the old drawing board until they can propose something more acceptable to the US Patent Office.
True, someone raised a concern that potentially a PW tutorial (comprising 5-6 small working groups) could submit 5-6 proposals, say, for a similar Amazing Race style event. But, so what? There might be the problem that the Supervising Tutor will get bored stiff very quickly, but the PW marking criteria does not say that we should be looking to reward particularly novel or entertaining ideas only.
Besides, those of us who demand rocket scientist level projects will find themselves running into even bigger problems down the road. Ultimately, the proposals have to be both feasible and manageable to carry out by the kids themselves (at least in theory) and unless the kids make some very solid plans to do so, the most faniciful of ideas will simply fizzle out as no one -- not even the Supervisor -- will likely have any idea how to make something concrete out of them.
So no, we don't need plans that will save the world. We don't expect every student to be a mini Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, Edison or Da Vinci, in order to get a good grade in PW. There's enough room there for such exceptional students to shine, but we do not penalize students if they don't make that grade. How many of us could?
What do we look out for then, if we are marking for "Generation of Ideas"? We look to see how the proposed event/activity/whatever is appropriate to and is representative of the person or event that inspired it. We see if the proposal is able to match its stated objectives. We see if the kid can properly define the scale of the project, and estimate, acquire and manage the resources necessary to excecute the plan and make it work.
We are looking for practical, manageable ideas. It's ok to be derivative, as long as the kid modifies the original to suit the purpose of the project. So 5-6 Amazing Races inspired by the Israelite Exodus, Gandhi's march to make salt, Mao's Long March, Lewis & Clark's trek across North America, and Oprah's rise to become the highest paid female in the entertainment industry, sure, why the heck not? I'd love to see how our kids can make an Amazing Race (even in microcosm) based on any one of these legendary personalities. That's already challenge enough to keep their generation of ideas flowing.
True, someone raised a concern that potentially a PW tutorial (comprising 5-6 small working groups) could submit 5-6 proposals, say, for a similar Amazing Race style event. But, so what? There might be the problem that the Supervising Tutor will get bored stiff very quickly, but the PW marking criteria does not say that we should be looking to reward particularly novel or entertaining ideas only.
Besides, those of us who demand rocket scientist level projects will find themselves running into even bigger problems down the road. Ultimately, the proposals have to be both feasible and manageable to carry out by the kids themselves (at least in theory) and unless the kids make some very solid plans to do so, the most faniciful of ideas will simply fizzle out as no one -- not even the Supervisor -- will likely have any idea how to make something concrete out of them.
So no, we don't need plans that will save the world. We don't expect every student to be a mini Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, Edison or Da Vinci, in order to get a good grade in PW. There's enough room there for such exceptional students to shine, but we do not penalize students if they don't make that grade. How many of us could?
What do we look out for then, if we are marking for "Generation of Ideas"? We look to see how the proposed event/activity/whatever is appropriate to and is representative of the person or event that inspired it. We see if the proposal is able to match its stated objectives. We see if the kid can properly define the scale of the project, and estimate, acquire and manage the resources necessary to excecute the plan and make it work.
We are looking for practical, manageable ideas. It's ok to be derivative, as long as the kid modifies the original to suit the purpose of the project. So 5-6 Amazing Races inspired by the Israelite Exodus, Gandhi's march to make salt, Mao's Long March, Lewis & Clark's trek across North America, and Oprah's rise to become the highest paid female in the entertainment industry, sure, why the heck not? I'd love to see how our kids can make an Amazing Race (even in microcosm) based on any one of these legendary personalities. That's already challenge enough to keep their generation of ideas flowing.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Rehearsals for the Admiral piece have recommenced after a 3-week break during which the cast took their first major exam of the year. Ran the whole thing through for the first time, and it's a relief that save for one remaining scene the Admiral's fully blocked out in rough. That means all the movements and patterns are almost in sync with the script and the fine tuning can begin soon.
Must work on their diction and projection. They're starting to move quite nicely, but it would also be good for the audienc to actually hear what they're saying. Also, must remind them to consistently keep their energy levels up and not look like they're just waiting around for their next line or movement.
I have a great cast. Though the majority of them are beginners, they're committed to the play and are learning their roles quite diligently. I can see they're quite tired already, but they stayed till 2100 tonight to rehearse, no complaints. We'll be rehearsing till later and later in the days to come and that's going to test everybody's resilience to the max.
Hope there's enough time left to create a show they can be proud to have played in.
Must work on their diction and projection. They're starting to move quite nicely, but it would also be good for the audienc to actually hear what they're saying. Also, must remind them to consistently keep their energy levels up and not look like they're just waiting around for their next line or movement.
I have a great cast. Though the majority of them are beginners, they're committed to the play and are learning their roles quite diligently. I can see they're quite tired already, but they stayed till 2100 tonight to rehearse, no complaints. We'll be rehearsing till later and later in the days to come and that's going to test everybody's resilience to the max.
Hope there's enough time left to create a show they can be proud to have played in.
Monday, March 31, 2008
When looking for dragons to slay, don't announce it too loudly. Dragons don't fight fair. About half-a-dozen small ones have ganged up, and are surrounding me for a grand butt kicking. 'nuff said.
Meantime, celebrated a birthday at Sunset, location picked for its variety of beer labels available. Also, our table picked up the courage to try level 3 buffalo wings. Mixed reactions. A couple of us want to try level 6 now. The rest just burned up on re-entry.
Love Sunset.
Meantime, celebrated a birthday at Sunset, location picked for its variety of beer labels available. Also, our table picked up the courage to try level 3 buffalo wings. Mixed reactions. A couple of us want to try level 6 now. The rest just burned up on re-entry.
Love Sunset.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Earth Hour has come and gone. I did my part too. I switched off all my lights at home and fled with Q-tip to Sunset for a nice, juicy steak. Sunset was crowded and I didn't have a reservation... and I was keeping a dog's company, so I got a seat at the outdoor bar counter where Jerry himself was holding court with his regulars.
When Jerry got hauled back inside to work, I found myself in the company of an American couple who were probably seeing each other socially. They'd lived here for more than a decade and a half already and the guy was well-acquainted with the small towns in Malaysia that I'm not even familiar with. Both are seasoned travellers, so far from their places of origin, yet so at home here halfway around the world.
So while I was hoping for a brilliant view of the sunset, I wound up socializing instead. That was good too.
I came home about 20 minutes short of 2100. For 20 minutes, I just sat in the dark, no fan, no entertainment. Just me, a dog and two cats, sweaty and getting sweatier, bored out of my skull. Only Maui was happy, practicing his 'kowabunga' pouncing technique on Kaiser and Q-tip under the cover of darkness.
As soon as my digital clock hit 2100, everything went back on and online again. It's no use... we're already too addicted to the light and the 'net.
When Jerry got hauled back inside to work, I found myself in the company of an American couple who were probably seeing each other socially. They'd lived here for more than a decade and a half already and the guy was well-acquainted with the small towns in Malaysia that I'm not even familiar with. Both are seasoned travellers, so far from their places of origin, yet so at home here halfway around the world.
So while I was hoping for a brilliant view of the sunset, I wound up socializing instead. That was good too.
I came home about 20 minutes short of 2100. For 20 minutes, I just sat in the dark, no fan, no entertainment. Just me, a dog and two cats, sweaty and getting sweatier, bored out of my skull. Only Maui was happy, practicing his 'kowabunga' pouncing technique on Kaiser and Q-tip under the cover of darkness.
As soon as my digital clock hit 2100, everything went back on and online again. It's no use... we're already too addicted to the light and the 'net.
Friends we may be in real life, but when it comes to battling it out for House pride, we staff become unbelievably partisan. But there is no rivalry between the Houses as is between House Peggy and House Fifi. It's probably because outside our Houses we are a really close-knit group, that's why our passions spill over when we compete against each other.
Before the matches, there's the drawing up of division lines, the trash-talkin' and intimidation... and some behind-the-scenes skulduggery going on as we pick our battles, choosing events that will give our sides the best advantage to win.
As reviewed by the Phys Ed folks Mel and I met by coincidence at Island Creameries for after-game refreshments, the staff games are the most nail-biting to watch as we go at each other tooth and claw. For us who played Modified Frisbee (it was Peggy vs Griff), bumps, scrapes and possibly bruises that will probably show up tomorrow were par for the course, from the collisions and tumbles that occurred all too frequently during the game. Even the P himself, who represented Griff and was the game's top scorer, wasn't spared.
The kids' games are usually less violent, according to Phys Ed. I figure we still recall the way we used to play when we were schoolkids ourselves. We weren't as safety-conscious then as our kids are now. Blood, sweat and dirt we knew intimately, having had our faces rubbed in it all the time. Games were unsupervised, improvised, and apart from a few basic ground-rules to remind us which game we were playing at the time, pretty much anything went. And that was how we played today.
The more civilized of us, though no less competitive, went on a trekking race through the Botanic Gardens, our games venue. Nevertheless, the tensions between Peggy and Fifi remained high, no one being too friendly today.
Peggy came out tops in both staff events, but that's the odd thing about us. We win our battles, but eventually end up losing the war. The day went to Fifi, so hey, congrats!
We shall reconvene for lunch, Monday.
Before the matches, there's the drawing up of division lines, the trash-talkin' and intimidation... and some behind-the-scenes skulduggery going on as we pick our battles, choosing events that will give our sides the best advantage to win.
As reviewed by the Phys Ed folks Mel and I met by coincidence at Island Creameries for after-game refreshments, the staff games are the most nail-biting to watch as we go at each other tooth and claw. For us who played Modified Frisbee (it was Peggy vs Griff), bumps, scrapes and possibly bruises that will probably show up tomorrow were par for the course, from the collisions and tumbles that occurred all too frequently during the game. Even the P himself, who represented Griff and was the game's top scorer, wasn't spared.
The kids' games are usually less violent, according to Phys Ed. I figure we still recall the way we used to play when we were schoolkids ourselves. We weren't as safety-conscious then as our kids are now. Blood, sweat and dirt we knew intimately, having had our faces rubbed in it all the time. Games were unsupervised, improvised, and apart from a few basic ground-rules to remind us which game we were playing at the time, pretty much anything went. And that was how we played today.
The more civilized of us, though no less competitive, went on a trekking race through the Botanic Gardens, our games venue. Nevertheless, the tensions between Peggy and Fifi remained high, no one being too friendly today.
Peggy came out tops in both staff events, but that's the odd thing about us. We win our battles, but eventually end up losing the war. The day went to Fifi, so hey, congrats!
We shall reconvene for lunch, Monday.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Young, mobile, more adventurous than I'd ever give her credit for. I'd underestimated how badly my lunch companion of today had been struck by wanderlust as she talked about her options for moving out and moving on.
And why ever not? The world is so accessible to us these days, as long as we can contribute to the community or at least not make a nuisance of ourselves, anyone is welcome to live anywhere they want. Just pick up a random pin, plunk it on any random coordinate on the world map, and chances are, we could find ourselves there in person within the week.
So what's with my own inertia? I seem to have lost the drive, the desire to have adventures of my own. Perhaps I'm too settled, too comfortable, have too many responsibilities to discharge and debts to pay off.
I do know I'm not too old, though. And I'm not yet accomplished enough. Every knight has a dragon to slay, and I'm pretty sure mine has yet to challenge me. If it has it was probably the size of a cicak which I killed by accidentally treading on it. When I take stock of everything that I have, I feel like I'm living a life I never really worked hard enough to deserve. Shouldn't I go have another look at the radar to see if my dragon's looming on the horizon?
And why ever not? The world is so accessible to us these days, as long as we can contribute to the community or at least not make a nuisance of ourselves, anyone is welcome to live anywhere they want. Just pick up a random pin, plunk it on any random coordinate on the world map, and chances are, we could find ourselves there in person within the week.
So what's with my own inertia? I seem to have lost the drive, the desire to have adventures of my own. Perhaps I'm too settled, too comfortable, have too many responsibilities to discharge and debts to pay off.
I do know I'm not too old, though. And I'm not yet accomplished enough. Every knight has a dragon to slay, and I'm pretty sure mine has yet to challenge me. If it has it was probably the size of a cicak which I killed by accidentally treading on it. When I take stock of everything that I have, I feel like I'm living a life I never really worked hard enough to deserve. Shouldn't I go have another look at the radar to see if my dragon's looming on the horizon?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I have a mad fantasy. At some time in the near future, my pals and I will take over the college and we will be the ones making the policies and running the programmes. Today's news of promotions for quite a few of them is entirely heartening as now we are all one step closer to fulfilling my dream.
The news was also timely as I was starting to waver over my own next step. There was a little self-doubt for a while, a little loss of confidence, but I feel a little more encouraged today.
Why do I call the fantasy mad? My pals are too young, too mobile, possibly too impatient as well. So many of them have already left for greener pastures or new experiences. A few more are already making plans, weighing their options. I don't begrudge them their freedom. Few people these days keep a single career for life so I won't expect them to either.
But for today, congrats on your success! Let's celebrate your achievements and continue to enjoy each other's company... while we still can!
The news was also timely as I was starting to waver over my own next step. There was a little self-doubt for a while, a little loss of confidence, but I feel a little more encouraged today.
Why do I call the fantasy mad? My pals are too young, too mobile, possibly too impatient as well. So many of them have already left for greener pastures or new experiences. A few more are already making plans, weighing their options. I don't begrudge them their freedom. Few people these days keep a single career for life so I won't expect them to either.
But for today, congrats on your success! Let's celebrate your achievements and continue to enjoy each other's company... while we still can!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Cyclists on the road are totally abhorrent. Especially the ones that cycle like the Highway Code everyone else abides by doesn't apply to them.
This moron -- not some uncle-guy but a young-looking rides-a-bike-for-exercise guy -- blithely cycling against the flow of traffic just cut across my path as I was turning out from a busy intersection. I didn't see him as I was concentrating on the direction the traffic was coming from, and if I had been in a little more of a hurry, he would have discovered from underneath M2's undercarriage that cycling isn't as good for his health as he thought.
Fortunately for him, just as I was accelerating out onto the main road I could still hit the brakes with inches to spare from the juicy target in front of me. He didn't even blink, kept riding on like he didn't even notice how close he was to being introduced in person to M2's front fender.
If I had hit him, it would definitely not have been my fault. But I don't need the extra nightmares, nor the investigations, nor the expenses incurred either.
If cyclists want to be respected on the road, like Mr B is pushing so hard for, then they'd better start respecting the Code. Else stay off the road, stay off the footpaths, just stay at home. Period.
This moron -- not some uncle-guy but a young-looking rides-a-bike-for-exercise guy -- blithely cycling against the flow of traffic just cut across my path as I was turning out from a busy intersection. I didn't see him as I was concentrating on the direction the traffic was coming from, and if I had been in a little more of a hurry, he would have discovered from underneath M2's undercarriage that cycling isn't as good for his health as he thought.
Fortunately for him, just as I was accelerating out onto the main road I could still hit the brakes with inches to spare from the juicy target in front of me. He didn't even blink, kept riding on like he didn't even notice how close he was to being introduced in person to M2's front fender.
If I had hit him, it would definitely not have been my fault. But I don't need the extra nightmares, nor the investigations, nor the expenses incurred either.
If cyclists want to be respected on the road, like Mr B is pushing so hard for, then they'd better start respecting the Code. Else stay off the road, stay off the footpaths, just stay at home. Period.
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Xmac & June Travel Agency went into business again. It was a whirlwind half-day city tour for June's Thai colleagues here on a business visit. Today was their last day in S'pore and time for a little r&r.We began with some sightseeing down by the Civic District, looking at the government buildings, posing for pix at the usual tourist places. These gals just love posing for shots, as you can see on the left.
And because we had legitimate tourists in our company, we had an excellent excuse to take a ride on the S'pore Flyer, 'cos otherwise we wouldn't have bothered.
There's only one real reason to ride the S'pore Flyer. It definitely isn't for the excitement as at the speed of one revolution per 30 minutes, there is hardly any sensation of movement at all. The view is nice, but since we're already used to high-rise living and working, and our landscape being what it is, it isn't exactly breathtaking either.Nope. The only reason to go ride in a transparent cylinder with 25 other people at a time is to absolutely go wild and crazy with a camera and take lots of "we were here!" shots. Cameras exchange hands freely between fellow Flyers for great mutually-assisted group photos.
There's nothing wrong with the Flyer itself, per se. The staff are warm and helpful; the big wheel operates so smoothly and silently there's a strong sense of security riding it; and everything looks very high-tech and professional. It's just that Fun is a bring-it-yourself factor, so future Flyers, be prepared to be sociable and feel free to camera whore without embarrassment. Nobody's looking at you anyway. And don't forget to look out the window once in a while. The view's still part of the package too.
We introduced them to some cheap local food at their request. They'd already been feted with Chinese seafood, Japanese and Western over the last couple of days and they were craving for a little local flavour.Pressed for time, we introduced them to the food court at the Convention Centre. Didn't really impress them much, but we did a good job of clearing the plates anyway. Then off for some hasty snapshots of the big fountain before returning them back to their hotel to collect their luggage.
One last stop before the Airport: Mustafa's for more economically priced souvenirs to take home with them.
Next time we're in BKK, we'll have some new friends to call on who'll take good care of us. Nice to do our part for Thai-S'pore diplomacy!
more pix here.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
I think Horton is KI material, and I'll explain why. Only not here. My re-telling of this Dr Seuss classic tale makes for long, tedious and cumbersome reading, not for the likes of these pages. If you are brave enough, refer to the following link: The KI of Horton.
BTW, the entry refers to the movie version of the story, not the original Dr Seuss book, which can be read as a social commentary -- as in, say, a parable of the increasing recognition of minority rights in the USA -- though it doesn't go as far as the movie in fleshing the characters and situation out.
BTW, the entry refers to the movie version of the story, not the original Dr Seuss book, which can be read as a social commentary -- as in, say, a parable of the increasing recognition of minority rights in the USA -- though it doesn't go as far as the movie in fleshing the characters and situation out.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I've never had to teach so many kids in such a short time as I did today. I ran four repeating back-to-back sessions involving a multimedia presentation as well as a physical demonstration. My muscles will be aching tomorrow.
It was quite the object lesson working with this type of kids. However much planning had gone into the schedule, there's so much unpredictability with the audience that whatever I said and did had to be on the fly. It helped that I had prepared a general structure though getting there was literally half the fun. Frequent questions from the floor kept derailing train after train of thought, and dealing with the occasional reluctant 'volunteer' (why do they volunteer if they don't actually want to do anything?) forced frequent changes of plan on the spot.
But from the feedback I got, I think the kids did learn something new and they did have some fun as well, which as I observe, seems to be a rare commodity during curriculum time. Yay! Mission accomplished!
It was quite the object lesson working with this type of kids. However much planning had gone into the schedule, there's so much unpredictability with the audience that whatever I said and did had to be on the fly. It helped that I had prepared a general structure though getting there was literally half the fun. Frequent questions from the floor kept derailing train after train of thought, and dealing with the occasional reluctant 'volunteer' (why do they volunteer if they don't actually want to do anything?) forced frequent changes of plan on the spot.
But from the feedback I got, I think the kids did learn something new and they did have some fun as well, which as I observe, seems to be a rare commodity during curriculum time. Yay! Mission accomplished!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
An important date came and went quietly, marked only by a simple dinner at Akashi, which has reasonably (I say 'reasonably' as I was prepared to pay more for a special occasion) priced sets though it looks kinda' ex from the outside. A tempura-soba combination for June, a bento for me.
An animated movie followed to remind us that we were still young at heart despite the years that we have accumulated since we last regarded cartoons as a media staple. Yes, we watched 'Horton'. Wonder what happened to the rest of the title?
When I first encountered Horton eons ago, I actually watched it as an animated short on TV. It was Dr Zeuss brought to full, anthropomorphic, technicolor 2D-life.
The movie is all that and more. Jim Carrey and Steve Carell reunite (remember 'Bruce Almighty'?) to flesh out the characters of Horton the elephant and the Mayor of Whoville respectively. The two are great foils for each other. Horton is quite anarchistic and lets his imagination run wild -- oh, the anime sequence... -- while the Mayor is all constrained responsibility, tradition and order. No matter the character type, they both face the same problem: they both have acquired a new knowledge that threatens their societies' security and even their existence, yet no one believes them and mostly everyone is anxious to put an end to the insanity that they both appear to have descended to.
There's a great many levels 'Horton' can be read at. I hadn't seen the complexity before, but the book can be a great introduction to several of the concepts we will encounter in KI. I think I'll make it a required reading for the JC1s. Or they should at least go watch the movie.
An animated movie followed to remind us that we were still young at heart despite the years that we have accumulated since we last regarded cartoons as a media staple. Yes, we watched 'Horton'. Wonder what happened to the rest of the title?
When I first encountered Horton eons ago, I actually watched it as an animated short on TV. It was Dr Zeuss brought to full, anthropomorphic, technicolor 2D-life.
The movie is all that and more. Jim Carrey and Steve Carell reunite (remember 'Bruce Almighty'?) to flesh out the characters of Horton the elephant and the Mayor of Whoville respectively. The two are great foils for each other. Horton is quite anarchistic and lets his imagination run wild -- oh, the anime sequence... -- while the Mayor is all constrained responsibility, tradition and order. No matter the character type, they both face the same problem: they both have acquired a new knowledge that threatens their societies' security and even their existence, yet no one believes them and mostly everyone is anxious to put an end to the insanity that they both appear to have descended to.
There's a great many levels 'Horton' can be read at. I hadn't seen the complexity before, but the book can be a great introduction to several of the concepts we will encounter in KI. I think I'll make it a required reading for the JC1s. Or they should at least go watch the movie.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
ST's "Pets' Corner" party at ECP. Quite daring of the organizers to make the occasion open to pets of all sorts, canine, feline or rodent. There was an event for every species. When we arrived, the hamster races were on.
Our primary goal was to enter Momo in the "Cat Kong" contest. Heaviest cat takes the top prize of $150 cash. Momo, however, had her own ideas and protested so loudly that before we could even get to our lift lobby, we decided she had been traumatized enough, so we hurriedly made a U-turn and took her home instead. Just as well, as she was nowhere near the size of these behemoths, some of whom were more than double her weight class. This ginger weighed in at over 11kg!
At least Q-tip got something for her outing: a trim of her paw fur, a "pet"-icure, and an ear cleaning.
Back home, we needed to do some Maui-proofing. Now that he's big enough to jump up to the window ledge, we had to mesh up the window to prevent him from encountering the great outdoors from the wrong altitude.
And because we woke up (twice) to a gushing kitchen tap -- and we have no idea how many hours the water had been on for -- we covered up the taps with disposable containers to prevent accidental activations by careless kitten feet. Our water bill will be interesting this month.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Torrential rain couldn't dampen our long-awaited Batam getaway. Typical of mostly all our escapes, the only item on our agenda was relaxation at all cost, and there was little to do but relax as the downpours on Days 1 and 2 kept us indoors.I kicked off my vacation schedule nua-ing through a 3-hour spa session with a tiny but sturdily-built masseuse. As I relinquished my bathrobe to her, I knew I was in good hands... and good feet as she commenced her assault with a stroll along my legs and spine. That initial foray softened up the ground for a thorough ploughing using alternating hot and cold stones. Once I was sufficiently reduced to a compliant pastry dough, it was off to the steam room to stew, then a bubble bath after. I ended with a foot reflexology treatment that I barely felt as by then I had already shut down my higher order thinking and was operating on motor function alone.
There was only one thing left on my mind: me hungry...! Just like my travelling companions who so kindly waited for me to finish my treatment before proceeding to dinner. Dinner was part of our package: nine assorted dishes of fresh seafood and veggies served with rice. Hunger appeased at last, we hung out at the lounge where the lounge singer got friendly with us and got Mel, Ton-y, Amy, B-lo and NBS to each sing a duet with him in turn. The rest of us -- HP, Wayne and I -- didn't make it past the Lounge Idol auditions. :P
Day 2 was entirely memorable due to the massive amount of rain that fell the whole day. It was a good day for the rest to get their spa treatments done, so between shifts we entertained ourselves just hanging out in our villas chatting, watching TV (no cable!) and occasionally dozing off where we sat. So much for Wayne and Ton-y's ambitions for a banana boat ride, but even if the weather was good, few of us were enthused enough to muster the energy needed for that.
We reconvened as a group for another seafood dinner, this time at the Rezeki, apparently the next best seafood place in Batam to the "Golden Prawn" where we had planned to go at first, then decided was too far away. We rode in two cars to get there, weaving our way around the many potholes that gave the narrow streets their distinctive character. We ordered an assortment of shellfish, crustaceans, a sea-bass and broccoli (for Mel), all very fresh and remarkably economical after splitting the bill eight ways.
Day 2 ended with a raucous KTV session back at our resort. Most of the song selections qualified as 'elevator music', but what th' heck, it made for a silly two hours' worth of late evening entertainment.
Day 3 was the day Day 2 should have been. Gloriously bright, hot sunshine, which saw us frolicking in the resort pool for the better part of the day. Unfortunately, the tide was out at this time, dashing Wayne and Ton-y's banana boat hopes once and for all.
After check-out, there was little else to entertain ourselves with. Did a couple of hours browsing through the sole Mega Mall, spirits buoyed by A&W curly fries and root beer floats served in tall chilled glasses -- a rare treat for us. That, and the J.Co donuts that we both scoffed down and brought home as souvenirs of our latest escapade.
I think the most important thing we've learned is that we're not likely to kill each other on trips. As far as travelling companions go, you guys rock!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Batam
Just a few of our holiday snaps from an unnamed location in Batam. It's such a great little hideaway, with comfy beach front villas, decent food, warm, friendly staff, and a lovely spa staffed with confident, experienced masseuses.
While I'm too tired to do a proper review right now, check out what NBS has to say about it -- she was blogging on-site.
Day 2.
Day 3.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
It may be spring break week, but it feels nothing like a break just yet. Between rehearsals in the morning and KI "chats" in the afternoon -- and more of the same tomorrow -- it looks like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.
Today's sessions, while necessary, have been quite fruitful as well. The more I work Pao Kun's awkward script with my cast, the more I can sense the movement, the timing and the rhythms that'll make this show tick. Problem is, I have so little rehearsal time left I fear it's only going to be half-baked by showtime. And in any case, I'm only using the spoken text as a counterpoint to the movement, like background music to a piece of choreography (in the loosest definition of the word), that our rather literal audience is in for a head-scratcher of a performance.
In terms of real calendar time, minus the two-week block test period coming up, I have only one week left to curtain. Internally, I'm panicking. Thank goodness for the short getaway beginning Wednesday that's coming up...
Today's sessions, while necessary, have been quite fruitful as well. The more I work Pao Kun's awkward script with my cast, the more I can sense the movement, the timing and the rhythms that'll make this show tick. Problem is, I have so little rehearsal time left I fear it's only going to be half-baked by showtime. And in any case, I'm only using the spoken text as a counterpoint to the movement, like background music to a piece of choreography (in the loosest definition of the word), that our rather literal audience is in for a head-scratcher of a performance.
In terms of real calendar time, minus the two-week block test period coming up, I have only one week left to curtain. Internally, I'm panicking. Thank goodness for the short getaway beginning Wednesday that's coming up...
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Wireless PowerPoint presenters are all the rage right now, with one staff member after another buying one of these handy little devices for themselves. They're fun to use in lectures as we can untether ourselves from our mouse or keyboard and interact eyeball-to-eyeball with our audience, or at least get as close as our microphone cord will let us, without having to run back and click a button every time we need to advance our slides. When I braved the crowds at the IT Show today, that was one item on my shopping list.
The Logitech one I had my eye on, unfortunately was not on display. But I found an iSmart one, a totally brand new model that looked a lot sleeker than any other I've seen before. It was slightly longer and fatter than a fountain pen with the control buttons all within easy reach of the thumb. It had the standard advance-back buttons, in-unit USB receiver storage, a laser pointer and a couple of additional features. It functioned as a remote mouse using an in-built joystick and it also had a 128Mb internal memory for storing ppt files so there's no need to lug around a separate portable hard drive unit.
A couple of quick phone calls later and I had two more orders (from Jane and Jon) to add to mine. And then it all went horribly wrong.
The first unit I tested worked fine, but the second, third and fourth units all refused to communicate with the demo tablet PC at all. No one could get the cursor to move with the remote joystick at all. What took the cake was when the increasingly flustered vendor tried out the fifth unit, the cursor on the OTHER demo laptop moved instead. By this time, June was tugging my sleeve and quite audibly suggesting that we "go have lunch first."
I'm curious to discover the cause of this unbelievable cascade failure. Since each remote has its unique receiver, could there have been some mix-up in the packing of the units? I kinda' felt bad for the vendor. While I'm quite used to experiencing such monumental embarrassments on a regular basis, most lesser mortals might actually take it to heart.
These things don't generally occur at a product fair like this, so there's only two explanations that I'll accept: 1) Murphy strikes again, and/or 2) gremlins. Shoulda' remembered to lock them up before I left the house this morning. Net result: no sale.
The Logitech one I had my eye on, unfortunately was not on display. But I found an iSmart one, a totally brand new model that looked a lot sleeker than any other I've seen before. It was slightly longer and fatter than a fountain pen with the control buttons all within easy reach of the thumb. It had the standard advance-back buttons, in-unit USB receiver storage, a laser pointer and a couple of additional features. It functioned as a remote mouse using an in-built joystick and it also had a 128Mb internal memory for storing ppt files so there's no need to lug around a separate portable hard drive unit.
A couple of quick phone calls later and I had two more orders (from Jane and Jon) to add to mine. And then it all went horribly wrong.
The first unit I tested worked fine, but the second, third and fourth units all refused to communicate with the demo tablet PC at all. No one could get the cursor to move with the remote joystick at all. What took the cake was when the increasingly flustered vendor tried out the fifth unit, the cursor on the OTHER demo laptop moved instead. By this time, June was tugging my sleeve and quite audibly suggesting that we "go have lunch first."
I'm curious to discover the cause of this unbelievable cascade failure. Since each remote has its unique receiver, could there have been some mix-up in the packing of the units? I kinda' felt bad for the vendor. While I'm quite used to experiencing such monumental embarrassments on a regular basis, most lesser mortals might actually take it to heart.
These things don't generally occur at a product fair like this, so there's only two explanations that I'll accept: 1) Murphy strikes again, and/or 2) gremlins. Shoulda' remembered to lock them up before I left the house this morning. Net result: no sale.
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