Slash, slash, Wolverine, slash

As a stand-alone movie, "X-men Origins: Wolverine" is quite the action-packed blockbuster we were hoping for. There are brutal fight scenes and things blowing up galore, and some awesomely cool choreographed moves by some of the characters as well (Agent Zero and Deadpool!!!), but for a bunch of characters wielding all manner of bladed weapons and small-arms, their kills are oddly bloodless. Guess the movie has to be acceptable to the kiddies' parents too, 'cos Wolvie is as popular to a 10-year-old as is to a jaded grump like me.

"Wolverine" compiles a brief history of everybody's favourite mutant, from his childhood to the Weapon X program and it's disastrous aftermath -- basically, all the memories Wolvie has lost, now revealed at last to the movie audience.

Considering his memories begin in the mid to late 19th century, I would have liked to explore his earlier memories in more detail. Unfortunately, these earlier memories were handled rather perfunctorily in the movie. The intention is to help align "Wolverine" continuity to "X-men" continuity, though I feel they rushed it. Wolvie's been a combatant in every major war since the American Civil War, and each war must have potential for some epic stories. But within the constraints of movie time, a lot of pruning has to be expected.

I'm glad the Sabretooth character is intelligent and that his reprehensible actions are the result of conscious choice rather than direct control by some external force. He is a bad, dangerous man who knows what he is doing, not just some beast on a leash like he was in the first X-men movie.

But the biggest disappointment was Gambit. Yes, it isn't his name on the title, but this character is way too cool to be used just as a glorified chauffeur who gets Wolvie where he's going. And what happened to Gambit's trademark Cajun mannerisms and accent? Maybe they should have brought in a speech coach because he sounded more Irish instead. Sorry, nitpicking; but it's too big an oversight to let it pass without mention.

Maybe it's because the fanboy in me already knows something of the Weapon X saga, so focusing on this event -- crucial as it is to the Wolverine mythos -- was meh. It makes for necessary plot development as the locations and events here are very closely linked with what happens in the "X-men" movie trilogy, but personally, I would have liked more screen time to showcase the awesome potential of Team X. Wolvie's heroic side emerges through his association with the X-men, so it would have been interesting to see the more grey areas of his past alongside his nasty Team X associates.

What I'm saying isn't so much an indictment against poor filmmaking choices as it is an acknowledgement that the Wolverine character has been so well-developed over the years by so many excellent writers and that a simple summary done on film does no justice to the richness of the man who is "the best at what he does, and what he does isn't very nice".

Too late for regrets

I have bought a new car, and I haven't been making much of a big deal about it. First, because it happened so suddenly, and second, because I'm upset.

It isn't about the money -- I don't have much of it to throw around anyway. It's the way I so readily signed over M2 to the dealer, although I had no intention to do it before. I have no reason to sell him off. He's been a good boy, never having given me any problems apart from a flat tyre and battery which were easily replaceable parts. I bet he'd still be a great companion for at least a couple more years before age actually starts taking its toll on him.

So why the sudden change? That's not a question I want to answer now. I'm too haunted by the memory that I signed him away while I was in full sight of him. There he was, just beyond the showroom window, sitting in the parking lot, while I hesitatingly put my John Hancock on the dotted line.

It's a memory that came back strongly this evening when I started him up to drive home from work. Mr Big's "Wild World" was playing on the radio:

Now that I've lost everything to you

You say you want to start something new

And it's breaking my heart you're leaving

Baby I'm grieving

And if you wanna leave take good care

Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear

A lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh baby, baby, it's a wild world...

I know it's silly of me to be so sentimental. I'm getting a great deal out of this transaction, and it's a routine part of car ownership in S'pore (cars are too expensive to keep for long and have to be sold off before they start giving trouble), but I already miss him.

This is one car owner who is dreading to hear that his COE bid has been successful.

Enduring "memory"

As magical as Mr Mistoffelees, Cats: Now and Forever was quite the extravaganza of music, song and dance that I had hoped it would be. I've been acquainted with the Webber musical since my sis was a schoolgirl, and only now, two decades or so later have I finally been able to see what she had been raving about way back then.

First of all, Cats is not a play. There is a very loose narrative stringing the different numbers together -- a reason for the cats to gather onstage -- but the plot is really just a convenient device for sequencing the scenes in some coherent manner. Most of the scenes themselves are self-contained units, focusing on the story of a particular cat (like the rum-tum-tugger) or cats (like Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser). So there isn't much necessity to interpret a bigger picture than what is already being presented.

What's more important for me is that the music is beautiful, varying in genre and tempo; as is the dance by the ensemble cast, so coordinated, acrobatic and energetic; a total treat for both audio and visual senses. The experience is what counts -- being in and appreciating the moment, every moment. That's where the enjoyment is, at least for me.

I don't know if Momo, Kaiser and Maui would approve of human beings cavorting around impersonating them, though. This kind of thing is only what we people would do; we don't see cats pretending to be us, do we?

3 2 2

I suppose it was inevitable, though I didn't expect it to be this soon. I took up the dealer's invitation to test drive the newly launched Mazda 3 even though I knew I couldn't afford it. It was just a lark, to see how the latest designed M3 would feel on the road. That was all it was supposed to be.

Mazdas are always a smooth ride, easy to handle and corner well. I was holding back because of its unfamiliar feel, but the 1.6l engine promised a jolt of power if I would but step a little harder on the accelerator. The luxury version comes with a few pretty cosmetic accessories, mostly having to do with lighting. The exterior boasts dual-xeon headlamps and fogs while the interior brightens up with a constellation of little console lights that indicate where every control button is if you happen to want to push one on a dark night. Pretty.

Like I said, there is no way in heck I could afford even the sedan version, let alone the luxury. The math simply wouldn't go, not that I really wanted a 3 anyway. But the math worked out perfectly for the Mazda 2 which I test drove over a year ago, but couldn't afford then. So suddenly, M2 got traded in and if our calculations are accurate, the new monthly payments will be less than what I am currently paying now. I placed the order, expecting delivery some time next month.

I should feel some excitement, even elation at the prospect of the change, but I don't. Somehow, I feel like I'll be losing a dear, old friend in M2. We've been through a lot together, but I know I won't be able to keep him forever. So can I think of it as M2 isn't really gone but rather as having got a major makeover including weight reduction and image enhancement instead? That'll be one way to cope, I guess.

We might have to clap in shifts

College Day: the day to recognize kids' achievements in academic and co-curricula pursuits, and for a rare few, both. We also use the occasion to inspire the other kids to do better so that they can take their own place on the stage the following year.

As teachers, we are justifiably proud of our students when we know we have contributed in some way to their success. But as much as we like to celebrate our aces, I thought I'd remind myself that the other kids -- the not-so-successful ones; the pains-in-the-neck; the ones who make me want to cough blood and die; yeah, those -- are no less valuable, and are just as worthy of my time and attention as well. Just because they don't score aces doesn't necessarily mean they aren't learning; and sometimes even when they don't display brilliance in exam conditions, it just means that their skills will emerge when they really need them perhaps a little further down the road.

So for me, College Day isn't just about the swots and muggers, but for all our kids regardless of achievement. Congrats to all of you!

Bits of randomness

"I appreciate the compliment, Chu-bi Wan. Have patience, and one day you too will master the art of Cat Fu."

"Dessert. Now. Please."

Finally got these pix uploaded like I promised. That means June's home from Beijing! Yay! No more instant noodles for dinner.

Dunno what's wrong with me the past few days. Simply could not come up with a single coherent thought, and had even more trouble reaching for appropriate vocabulary to use even in conversation with friends and colleagues. It's been like my neurons shorting out or something. Maybe I just need more sleep.

Meantime, NBS had the courage to offer herself up to be ravaged by the usual whiners and axe-to-grinders who stalk the ST online opinion pages. I don't subscribe to abuse therapy to deal with my boredom, but sometimes it's fun to poke the hornets' nest with a stick then stand back and laugh at their angry, pointless buzzing. I guess that could be therapeutic. I guess.

And a shout out to the little Swift who was just minding her own business when an oblivious truck jammed his nose up her butt: "Get well soon!"

Geek gushes over gorgeous gal

Omg, she's a beauty! For an older lady, she's still got the curves and the moves to make these eyes o' mine water. A gal like her is so hard to find these days. Majestic, graceful, yet cheeky enough for a little fun when she's not taking care of serious business, she's still got it in her to turn heads with her presence. At first glance, she may not look immediately appealing, with her twin humps disconcertingly distracting from her sleek figure. But I've observed her long enough, and have grown accustomed to her unique charms. And now I just can't take my eyes off her. I simply must take her home, care for her and treat her real nice, and I just know she'll take me to the heights of my desire.

Sigh. Wish I had £1.5-2 mil.

A change of leadership

We have been playing around with the notion of democracy so much that we actually think we are a democratic nation. Going by the unhappiness over the sudden and abrupt change of leadership in women's advocate group, AWARE, it's become apparent that we have no concept at all about what "democracy" means, or what its implications are. Or the fact that adopting democratic principles presupposes the voting members are responsible people who perform their due diligence before they vote and then are prepared to live with the decision they have made.

No. Here, democracy's peachy -- as long as it returns the status quo. But all hell breaks loose when the unexpected results. Accusations fly over questionable tactics and ethics; hidden agenda and conspiracy theories surface; and everyone wonders what went wrong, as if the defeat of the incumbent was a moral violation of some sort.

Democracy is a contest, not a procedure. There will be a winner and there will be a loser. The one who knows and prepares the ground best wins, the other... well, there's always the next election. My guess is that the previous leadership of AWARE simply took this election as a formal procedure to legitimize its position in the forthcoming term, and wasn't prepared to slug it out with a candidate who was in it to win it. Result: ah, there's the beauty of democracy, isn't it? If the people feel it's time for a change of leadership, then leadership makes a peaceful transition, thus eliminating a full-blown civil war ending with the loser's head on a pike.

But at this time in our nation's development, we haven't quite figured out this aspect of our cherished democratic principles yet. If AWARE is any indication of the ground today, then we're looking at a people that really want to see change take place. The next General Election may prove to be a hotter, more serious contest than it has ever been since independence. The previously lethargic opposition may take this incident as a sign to launch a major offensive to capitalize on shifting ground support while the incumbents should know by now to prep for a real battle on their hands this time.

Could this event mark a turning point in our voters' appreciation of the concept of democracy: that their choices really do matter, and that they have to be responsible for the votes they will be casting? That their votes must be based on an intelligent assessment of the options available and not simply made as a matter of course or reflex? An advocacy group can take time out for hand-wringing (though I think they would much prefer neck-wringing), but national government has no time for anything else other than business as usual regardless of the result. And we, the voters, must learn to peacefully accept the outcome because it was the choice we made. Else it'll be another battle of different coloured shirts as we tear our own country apart. Who needs enemies then?

If we didn't know the first thing about democracy before, now's the time to be AWARE.

Home alone

Urm, I was gonna pretty up this entry with pix of Q-tip with her new haircut, Maui watching TV, and the lovely steak I had for dinner, but I procrastinated a tad too long. Now my cam is on its way to the airport, accompanying June to Beijing. Yes, I've been left to my own devices again for about a week. I've stocked up on provisions so I'm not likely to starve, and the laundry's done so I should continue to smell nice, at least for the next few days.

How is a guy gonna survive without the civilizing influence of a woman's proximity? In this experiment, we're about to find out. Stay tuned...

For one night only

The annual Chinese drama night has taken a big step forward this year in terms of staging choices and overall presentation.

Tonight, in the first play, we saw a more efficient use of performance space, sectioning off different parts of the stage to represent different locations, thus avoiding long, unnecessary blackouts while transitioning between scenes.

The second play was more stylized. The set utilized movable blocks of different sizes for a versatile set that easily transformed to create different moods and locations. Movement in this piece was more tightly choreographed than the previous piece, which tended towards a more realistic presentation. The second piece also made good use of heights and levels, a little dance movement, and also delivered an interesting, textured soundscape -- a combination of music and rhythms -- that worked for both realistic and abstract scenes.

The plots were straightforward enough for me to understand most of what was going on, at least through observing the situation. The dialogue was not simple TV-grade Mandarin, but rather some higher level language that went clear over my head. Must thank Amy and B-lo for helping me past the more esoteric bits, though there weren't really that many.

Apart from watching the performance, I was also taking note of the lighting equipment and the effectiveness of the condensers. It'll be NYeDC's turn to go up on stage in only a month's time. Panic stations!

Knowing we've seen it all before

Why do I insist on watching movies about the end of the world? Oh yeah, for the scenes of civilization being destroyed in spectacular fashion, and perhaps for the glimmer of hope that we can somehow overcome, avert or avoid the inevitable.

In the case of "Knowing", there are indeed some truly vivid depictions of disasters complete with a few disturbing visuals of being right in the midst of it all while people are dying in quite horrible ways all aound us. That itself should be worth the price of admission, but we've seen it all before already -- in the trailer!

Ok, so the trailer does not cover every single aspect of the movie but I daresay everything I wanted to view, I could have got it off the trailer, for free. The bits that were not in the trailer, well, let's just say they didn't add much more -- except maybe a little unnecessary hokeyness -- to an already predictable plot.

There's an attempt to draw out a debate between Determinism and "sh*t happens" randomness, but it seems like a convenient placeholder for upping the philosophical ante of the movie, and it didn't sustain.

Oh well, nice concept, but not quite my cup of tea.

Not exactly rapt attention

It's probably my own fault I had to destress this afternoon. I've been working on a little presentation for today's address to the JC2s that we Inno people (Kev, et al) were responsible for. We? I mean, me. Not that they didn't offer help, but I took it upon myself to deliver the oration because I could not get another speaker to fill the slot like I said I could. Penance. The speaker I did get is for a later date, not today, in case you're wondering.

I've lectured before, to groups of about 120-150, but this was the first time I faced the whole JC2 cohort, all 700+ of them. Did I really have anything to say that could hold their attention for 40 minutes or so? It was something I've been fretting over the past week, imagining a scenario where I'd be holding a wireless mike in one hand and a can of mace (or a fire extinguisher) in the other to maintain crowd control.

The initial technical problems didn't help ease my nerves, but I finally had my sound and visuals by the second reboot while the crowd murmured around me, anxious to see some action at least for their trouble of hustling to the hall.

But I've been selling my audience short. When we got started, they did rather seem politely interested. It wasn't exactly rapt attention, but it wasn't the riot I'd been fearing either.

A couple of things that most likely worked in my favour: I held a wireless mike and walked in the midst of my audience, randomly shooting off a question, shoving the mike at a convenient face and expecting a response. No one really wanted to attract my attention and my mike, so there were no outstanding individuals in the crowd. The other thing was to constantly vary the sensory input, letting a few short video clips take up about half my time while I spent the rest stitching together a plausible narrative linking the clips together along with the other media (news clippings and websites) I used in my show-and-tell.

I think overall it went well, though I haven't heard the reviews yet. Anyway, the ordeal's over -- for now. And the root beer did wonders for my mood.

Recipe for destress

Recipe for destress: 1 root beer float, well beaten, served neat. And the afternoon off.

Is no house, is zoo

Everyone knows I keep four animals in my house, 3 cats and a dog. The addition of the fifth, Mimi, whom I am dogsitting over the weekend has pushed me to my limits.

It's no fun being constantly up to my elbows in poop and pee, every now and then having to spray down the bathroom floor because somebody missed the paper. And even then, sometimes I can't even change the paper fast enough, so I can't really blame the dogs for their inability to make a precision strike when the designated target zone has already been carpet-bombed to saturation.

Bleary-eyed all weekend, I finally got a good night's sleep in my own bed last night. I simply couldn't take my Mimi-induced insomnia any longer. When she started acting up as usual, I got out of bed to give her a sharp swat on her hindquarters and plonked her back into her sleeping basket. Not a peep out of her after that, and I got a solid five hours.

Now to get the house ship-shape for June's return tonight. All evidence of my decadent bachelor lifestyle must be eradicated. Rhumba is hard at work as we speak.

Have a good Friday

The Wongs are off on their annual vacation, and I am living like a bachelor again. The natural state of things is that any horizontal surface is appropriate to place stuff on and that any protrusion is appropriate to hang stuff on, and so "nature boy" is reasserting himself, at least for the weekend. After all, who are we to keep fighting entropy?

Seriously lacking sleep, though. With the Wongs gone, Mimi's staying at my place so I can keep an eye on her, feed her and take her for walkies. But one thing she will not do is sleep alone at night. Since my bedroom is the one sacred animal-free zone in my house, I had to sleep in the living-room to keep her company. Otherwise she will bark continuously with no consideration for the neighbours whatsoever. But who can really sleep in the living-room? No fan, no air-conditioning and with the windows closed (open windows give the cats ideas) I tried to catch as many winks as I could. Pretty sure I'm way short of the recommended forty.

Still managed to catch brekkie with Jojo and Derek at the Beach Hut (behind McD's, ECP). They serve a breakfast buffet for about $11 nett on Sundays and public hols. Another good option if we're considering dog-friendly locations.

Haven't 'bladed for a long time, so I took the opportunity to have a rollin' cardio workout while J&D hung out on the beach to photosynthesize. And now "nature boy" is considering his options for spending the rest of the afternoon on this nice public hol Friday.

Yes, Kev, I'm procrastinating again...

Captain Heroic

A hastily crafted news headline reads, "Navy warship arrives where captain held off Somalia". Goodness, since the captain was already doing so well holding off a whole African nation by himself, the Navy warship would only be cramping his style.

Click here.

Effective communication

Spent most of the day catching up with my overflowing email inbox and shooting off more replies than I remember ever having done in a single day before. Some of these correspondence were quite crucial, so I'm very gratified that the results have been quite rewarding.

The two playwrights whose scripts we wish to use for Drama Night have given us their royalty-free blessings, as long as we keep the integrity of their opuses (at least in spirit) and they wouldn't mind a video recording of the performance, if we would be so kind. Hmm... now where can we find a competent and reliable camera crew to help us out here?

Also, quite unexpectedly, a guest speaker materialized to help out with a presentation I've been tasked to organize for the whole JC1 cohort. Here I was mentally girding myself up to take on the flak all by myself, and suddenly an expert arrives to lend a much needed hand. Yay!

I'm slowly being convinced that people are indeed willing to come forward and contribute to the education of our young. They need a very clear statement of objectives within a well-crafted, succinct missive, but once they know that they are needed and what they are needed for, they'll do it for the sake of Education.

Best kept secret

Sembawang's best kept secret has got to be the block of little shophouses on Jalan Malu-malu that's like a time-capsule dating back some 30 years at least. There is a seafood restaurant on the corner that's jumping with diners (yes, it's an open secret) though the set-up reminds me of the crappy, run-down seafood joints that once occupied Punggol Point. It's dim and dingy, and diners are better-off not looking too closely at the kitchen, but that's how it all used to be.

There is a frozen meat wholesaler on the same row. He's a good option for cheap meats for barbeques, in case you think the internet bbq wholesalers are too expensive and too impersonal.

But our target of exploration tonight was Flamingg Mangos. On the row of shops that Pizza Hut operates a delivery-only service is an amazing little restaurant that serves very robust burgers, pasta and steaks. The decor is romantically simple: dim with a pink-orange glow; a few small, framed pictures on the walls; a bar counter adjacent to a wine rack, all opccupying an old-style shophouse gutted for al fresco dining.

There's an easy-going atmosphere about the place. Nothing is hurried, not even the light jazz on the stereo which seems to direct the tempo of operation there. It offers a decent variety of drinks, but it's mostly family-friendly, and there's a dog-friendly corner too.

We ordered a cream of pumpkin soup to start which came with a basket of home-made garlic bread. June had a half-rack of ribs while I feasted on two hunks of breaded dory and chips. Free-flow of iced water, cold and therefore good. I had my eye on a creme brulee for dessert, but we both were too full by the time we were done with our main course.

Total bill: $45.75. Not bad for a very pleasant dinner for two. Next time we go, my target will be the beef, and to somehow still pack in dessert.

Library calling!

Went on another book delivery run. Before starting off, the organizers were very happy to inform us that the project has had a successful trial and will now be a permanent operation of the National Library Board. There was a simple appreciation ceremony at which they gave us volunteers a cert and a commemorative polo shirt each.

With me were June (first time!) and Mark G. I didn't think to bring a camera for the event, but Mark shoved me his to shoot him collecting the plaque the NLB presented to our college for our service. Hope it turns out ok 'cos the request was so sudden, I didn't have time to compose the shot properly before I took it.

The run itself was quite uneventful. June and I drove out to two locations in Jurong. One of the receipients wasn't home. She'd gone out to take a class in something-or-other, her family member said as he collected the books on her behalf. The other was a wheelchair-bound teen whose selection comprised some difficult-looking science and math books and he requested we bring him something on C++ programing next time.

I really don't mind there being a next time. The job isn't a big hassle -- even non-drivers can volunteer as Comfort sends a fleet of taxis to provide free transport as part of their service learning culture. The transaction is easy: count books, sign here, sign there, and we're gone. And most importantly, everyone's happy.

Official propaganda

I must be getting old. That's probably why reminders of human mortality seem to be drawing my attention these days. But so far (thankfully) it hasn't been Death itself that's been holding my fascination but rather the celebration of the life lived that has.

This MCYS vid is especially fascinating because it portrays one possible interpretation of the paradox posed in 2 Cor 12:9, which declares that God's "power is perfected in weakness" -- something of a head-scratcher if we just look at the verse out of context.

Love's the same. It's the imperfect that needs love most, and love's best function is when it upholds the most imperfect.

I don't often compliment official propaganda, but this one has got it right for once. It doesn't mean I'm about to start a family right away, but I appreciate the message.

Drama Club evolution

Quite happy with how Drama Club is working. I was a bit worried last year when we seemed to be accumulating a small group of ordinary kids; no divas, no drama mamas, no one anyone might suggest they would look interesting on stage. But these kids have made such progress since, in terms of work ethic, organizational abilities, willingness to learn, and drive to produce a good show despite our budgetary and space constraints.

Today, our Drama Night cast and crew list numbers 50 from a core of about 14, and I think Tina is exactly the right coach to lead them, with her no-nonsense style and her overall production vision that will ensure everyone will have something valuable to contribute to the effort. For once, even the publicity team which usually operates independently from the production team has now been fully integrated and it was nice to see all departments represented at our first production meeting yesterday afternoon.

In slowly empowering the kids to take charge of their own production, I'm encouraged that the right kids are starting to take over the club from off my hands, and I am very interested to see where they're going to take it.

Carnivorous Rex

The birthday boy got what he wanted, an all-restraints-off meat buffet featuring uncivilized sized hunks of the flesh of several different animals sliced off a skewer onto our own plates. I think it was an act of rebellion against the health and environment conscious campus cafeteria we've been eating at every day for the past... who knows how long already.

There isn't much to describe about the food, really. It's chunky; it's meaty; some of it is juicy and tender while others are a bit of a chew-fest; and the different meats tasted very like the critters they were sliced off. What more do you need to know? We weren't there for subtleties, we were there to tear into helpless herd animals and gorge ourselves with viscera until the world was reminded once again who claims top spot on the food chain.

Carnivore, Vivo, was a Great Choice, birthday boy!

Satiated, the pack found a cool, dark den in which to quietly digest our meal -- a cinema screening "Confessions of a Shopaholic". The movie was a quirky, cute look at a materialist lifestyle lived to the extreme. Being mired in credit card debt isn't funny, but creatively evading a dogged Ah Long (US version) and trying desperately not to ruin a stupendously lucky break at the same time somehow is.

My one takeaway from "Shopaholic": people actually get paid to write a 500-word column in a monthly publication? I must so be in the wrong job.

Earth Night

Gaahhh! Dutifully switched everything off promptly at 2030 hrs to do my bit for Earth Hour. Twiddling my thumbs in the dark didn't appeal to me so I went to take a nap for one hour... and didn't wake up until 0700 this morning. How much energy, including my own, did I save?

Departures

We don't take rituals very seriously these days. We see little meaning in fussing over minute details that our traditions prescribe. For us, they're just a throwback to the old days, and we do them just to keep the old people happy. Whether they're to celebrate the new year, or to celebrate a wedding, we skip through the processes as quickly as possible so we can move on to the next thing, getting on with our lives.

It amazes me that a movie can open my eyes to what we've been missing out on: the deeper meaning behind the details of a ceremony when it is carried out with the proper respect and reverence that it deserves.

"Departures" is a look at the living, and how they must deal with the mortal remains of those who have moved on. After all, death isn't a concern for the departed but for the living who must find a way to dispose of the body that's been left behind, and to cope with the loss. These days, we seem to focus on the former, just dumping the body in a hole or incinerating it; then once out of sight, out of mind. Coping with the loss is easy thereafter because we have emotionally detached ourselves from the process. No fuss, no muss.

But with a pace as slow, methodical and calm as its subject, "Departures" takes us through the encoffinment ceremony with such sensitivity that we who generally do not shed a tear at funerals we attend are emotionally moved at each ceremony depicted in the movie.

The work of the "NK agent" (NK stands for something in Japanese meaning "to casket", if we can count "casket"as a verb) is to prepare the deceased for its final journey. This includes the washing and the origami-like wrapping of the body just before it is placed into its coffin. The ceremony is done in full view of the deceased's family, so the body gets treated with the utmost respect. The objective is to restore the corpse back to the way it used to look like so that the loved ones can identify the final image of the deceased as someone they knew in life and remember for the rest of their own lives.

When people die, biological processes render them unrecogniseable. For example, their cheeks hollow out, while oddly enough nails and hair continue to grow. The NK agent performs a ritual that dresses the body in the clothes it is accustomed to wearing, returns facial features to the way they once were and make-up brings living colour back to the pallid face so that its loved ones don't just send a body off to the incinerator, they send the person off to his or her next destination.

What's moving is when the living actually recognise the desceased for who they are, and the grieving kicks in. People express grief in different ways, through tears, fury, and even laughter, but as long as the NK agent has done a good job no one can remain stoic, everybody is part of the grieving process and as a result the memory of the departed lingers that much stronger, that much more real.

But the ceremony is much more than saying a respectful farewell. It actually reminds us how precious being alive is, and how much more we should love those closest to us so that we can let them go with no regrets when the inevitable occurs.

Beautiful cinematography including the motif of migratory geese who, like life, are present for a short time and then fly away. It's really the dead that are moving on; not us who are staying, regardless of how much we try to make life go on. How paradoxical.

What's also paradoxical is the sense that ironically, the NK agent is a dying trade. That's what's truly sad about this movie. Who will help us remember once the profession becomes extinct? Guess that's where we are now.

Whatever it is, it isn't Science

No wonder the kids are having so much trouble with GP. I discovered a bunch of them memorizing essays for Biology class. It looks like they haven't kicked this horrific habit yet since secondary school days.

Whatever they're learning in biology, it isn't Science. In fact, it's quite the opposite. A scientific mind is one that questions, observes, tests, evaluates, concludes and applies. A non-scientific mind accepts unquestioningly, taking what's immediately obvious as gospel truth, based on an external Authority -- in this case, probably a teacher's "model answer".

Smart parrots, indeed. Extrinsically motivated to study for the exam rather than intrinsically motivated just to know. Fortunately, they're still taking GP as a compulsory subject. So much damage we have to undo.

Bonus debacle

Have we overreacted to AIG's top executives' bonus payout debacle? $165 million looks like an awesome amount of money to waste on people's bonuses, but compared to the $170 billion AIG received for its bailout loan, it works out to about 1/1000 of the total package. As I understand it, the loan was intended to get the company on its feet again, running like a normal, functioning company should. And company bonuses are a normal, even expected, part of corporate function.

Let's make a comparison. An F22-A fighter jet like the one that crashed in California costs $150 million for the US government to write off outright -- almost the total sum of AIG's bonus package itself! For $170 billion, the US government could buy well over a thousand F-22s to replace the crashed one. So, really, there's a lot of bailout money left to deal with the company's problems, even after the bonus payouts. Keeping staff morale high in these bad times is one way to do it.

Of course when I myself am facing a no-bonus scenario at the end of this year, hearing about other people getting bonus amounts I could never even dream of does leave a bad taste in the mouth. But at the same time, there's no reason to get all irrational about it.

Evacuation drill dog story

Our campus evacuation alarm went off at about the time we had anticipated, although we weren't supposed to be anticipating it at all. My job when the bell goes is to head for the main gate, secure it and later to escort media personnel to their holding area where they will receive official information about what's goin' on.

No media showed up for today's drill, but a car stopped at the main gate with a couple of ladies claiming that they had been summoned by phone to retrieve their pet dog which had strayed onto our premises. Could they be performing a 'scenario' that we had been warned to expect?

Not long after, this kid arrives walking down the driveway carrying a short-legged mutt which looked both amused and bemused by its unaccustomed mode of locomotion. Kid transfers canine to me, I shoo him back to where he was supposed to be assembling to take attendance, and I open the main gate to facilitate a slightly embarrased family reunion.

Whoever plans these scenarios is mad.

A couple of hours off

The first meeting of the Wii players' club has come to (dis)order. Members finished up early in the afternoon to take a couple of hours off work and indulge in some hilarity. Odd that we were taking a break from controlling unruly children and still ended up controlling unruly Raving Rabbids instead. The stupid game has fast become our favourite. There's nothing like playing a round to get us laughing at each other as we try to figure out the rules of a game that obviously does not make sense, and who's sole purpose is to embarrass its players in front of their friends.

Little mad breaks like these on the odd (and sometimes very odd) occasion are what keep us going.

New eyes

Contacts showing signs of wear. Had to get them replaced, but since Leow's retired I have no interest in bothering him to make another pair for me. It was 20 years ago that he made me my first pair and I've been going back to him every year ever since. This year, I went commercial to Capitol Optical, on a good friend's recommendation (name withheld for medical confidentiality).

These old, tired eyes of mine require quite some negotiation to balance out clarity of distance with clarity of reading. Odd that as we get older while we remain as short-sighted as we have always been, we are also getting long-sighted. It's a paradox no one has been adequately able to explain to my satisfaction.

Given my profession, my contacts will have to sacrifice some distance for reading, though when I'm at home I've taken to wearing my googly glasses 'cos they're really my best option. Gimme another couple of years and I will have to consider lasik or just wear glasses permanently. I'm not looking forward to that time when I have a Hobson's choice to make.

But for today, I made a choice anyway. I'm now trialing disposables to replace my current permanent pair. Hygiene and daily freshness were a strong selling point.

And later today, I believe I discovered Sembawang's best kept secret... but I'll only explore it at a later date.

A pile of croc

We must be in serious denial. Here, we're getting news to expect industry-wide pay cuts, and we're still spending money anyway. We got 50% storewide off Crocs through an "inside source" so although the chunky, rubbery footwear was never on our shopping list before, today we bought a couple of pairs each, and for the in-laws too.

While we had an exclusive discount source, the other shoppers were paying normal store prices and they just kept coming towards the cashier with their own selections. I guess recession or not, life and shopping must still go on.

A treat for the censors

The Board of Film Censors would have us know that it is no longer in the business of censorship. No. It now takes a 3-C approach: Classification, co-regulation and consultation by which the Board restricts access to the media according to age discrimination, rather than making a hatchet job on a roll of film with scissors and Scotch (TM) tape.

We know this because the BFC opened its screening room to us and talked us through the different processes and procedures our mainstream media undergo from submission for classification to final public release. I suppose it's a good approach because it seeks to please some people but not everybody, whereas the other more heavy-handed way pleases no one and pisses everyone off.

Kids did well discussing the sensitive issues in "Little Miss Sunshine" which they got to watch in its entirety, they had an animated Q&A session in which they showed off what they had learned in the session, and they grilled the staff there properly too. Quite a fun morning, actually.

Apologies to NBS whom we stood up for lunch even after making plans at the beginning of the week. We ended our BFC visit late and couldn't make our appointment after all. :(

Witch Mountain all over again

Disney's "Witch Mountain" movies of the 70s' were a major influence on my formative years. They were among the first movies I watched focused on paranormal themes. They fed me with fantasies of ESP abilities, aliens and spacecraft; but it was because of these fantasies that I began reading the newspapers, looking out for articles on such topics.

Somehow, Witch Mountain made a believer out of me and I suppose I was looking for corroborating evidence that such things were real. If they could be real for other people -- so my logic went -- they could turn out to be real for me too. After expending much effort on fruitless mental levitation, my teenage mind decided that if ESP wasn't my gift, then I had to be an alien. Perhaps that above all effectively ended my teenage social life, and turned me into the warped and twisted middle-ageing adult I am today.

Not surprisingly, I made a bee-line for the latest Witch Mountain tale to spin out of the Disney Studio... and realised how much I've grown up in 30-plus years. I mean the basic plot is the same: two young aliens wielding extraordinary powers get chased around for pretty much the whole movie by an evil, obsessive character, and are aided by some uncle-ly dude who promises to get them home, wherever home may be. But I've lost the magic of the first movie and I spent most of the time spotting plot loopholes big enough for a taxi, an RV and a flying saucer to transit through -- abreast.

"Race to Witch Mountain" is a pastiche of many sci-fi plots -- "Enemy of the State", "Terminator", and "Alien", for example -- woven together so loosely it's easy to slip into seen-it-all-before mode. There's a little humour, some action sequences, some big explosions, and the pursuers are by no means benign, but the thrills tend to be short-lived, never sustained.

Oh, well, jaded forty-something talking. I think the biggest thrill for me was to see Ike and Kim (who played the original alien kids) making cameo appearances as a sheriff and a diner waitress respectively. To me, they're old friends whom I haven't seen in decades, and it was a brief vicarious reunion that we shared in a greasy spoon in Stony Creek, small-town USA. It's assuring to see that even as I have grown up, they have too. Tony and Tia, it's good to see you again!

Momentum builds for Drama Night 09

I find it hard to reconcile the notation on my calendar that claims it's the March hols with my 9-hour work day today. I must say that it was a very productive day, and a not at all unenjoyable one 'cos most of the day I spent with the Drama Club, but still I wouldn't call this week a "vacation", like how the rest of the world might consider it. 

Interesting that our scripts this year have rather adult themes and rather, um... adult language, but the kids who are auditioning today seem a little young and naive to be playing such roles. And my intrepid crew of inexperienced student directors themselves haven't quite yet understood the nuances of their chosen scripts yet.

Which brings the club smack into the issue of censorship, or at least toning down of the more squeamish bits so as to play at a level our audience can accept. I realize I'm pushing the envelope here, but it's important that my charges experience the issues of real theater production and its role in the community so that they can see the bigger picture rather than just a romanticized "school-play" version of it.

I'm going to have my hands full with this year's Drama Night. It'll be interesting, but I can only say that I brought it upon myself. Thankfully, I have Tina's expertise and Sha's extra pair of hands to help out.

Ooo... cake!

Happy birthday, June! Hope I haven't hidden your gift too well. It's in a place I thought you'd look at, but so far, you haven't. Hee hee. Keep looking!

Focus, people, focus...

This morning's session with Prof Mo on critical thinking in GP would have been interesting and useful as he was supposed to help us figure out how we could use the subject to train our kids to enter uni more as thinking sceptics than as smart parrots. Unfortunately, our discourse was sidetracked and eventually derailed by a certain inquisitive student who was more interested in picking apart the examples rather than follow the main argument. Like trying to catch the Prof out on some technicality, or something. Typical.

As much as I prefer an interactive class, this one simply couldn't meet its objectives, proving once again that some teachers make the worst students. In times like these, it's best to let go of our previous expectations and just go with the flow. We may not have achieved our goal, but we did get a mildly interesting dialogue out of it anyway.

So the highlight of the day has to be the generous lunch Cynth and Mojo provided from Fassler. We feasted on mounds of sashimi and antipasto, with canapes from Delifrance. And The Daily Scoop ice-cream in assorted flavours for dessert. A big thank you to our bosses for feeding us so well!

Deja Vous

I feel like I've had several conversations like this one in my lifetime.

Lucky me!

Lucky me! Won this scanner-printer from a draw at the IT Show.

Edit 01:

Now, I wonder if my luck was in the drawing of the right coloured ball from the closed box, or in the choice of game. There weren't all that many balls -- I felt only about 10 at the most -- and10:1 odds aren't bad for this sort of game. I suspect Challenger was just giving them away.

The value of a college education

Yay! New entry, which means I have made a significant enough dent in my assessment pile to lift my silence. It was due to the all-nighter I pulled last night, accompanied by a cold pizza and my wife who ensured I stay awake and alert that my conscience is clear today.

One of the things I'm grading is an essay on the relevance of a university education today. I'm quite disturbed by the number of responses that say otherwise, and the reason (note the the singular) they give is that Bill Gates (he went to Havard!), Einstein (he got his PhD at 26 years of age!) and Thomas Edison (homeschooled) didn't have college degrees and still made a success of themselves.

That argument is wrong on at least three levels: 1) The facts are off base; 2) these three are outstanding individuals and hence non-representative of the general population; and 3) to consider the three as representative of 'today' requires some discussion on how they contributed to creating the world as we know it today, otherwise we have to consider two of the three as recent history and hence dismiss them as irrelevant to the discussion. Am I being too strict?

Only eight and a half months to throttle up their secondary school prattle to undergrad standard. I forsee a breathless run to the end of the year. But if there's one thing that'll keep me motivated, it's my own belief in the value of a university education, regardless of what the kids are saying.

I'm flipping through STI, and I'm thinking I was so close to being this guy. I don't want my kids to end up like him either.

Normal service will resume shortly

We apologise for the excruciating quality of the previous entry. Normal service will resume when the pile of papers awaiting grading on Xmac's desk has been significantly reduced...

What's inside the box?

I've got an article here that purports that secondary schools are an anathema to a child's creativity. It isn't the school's intention to do that, of course. We do want our kids to grow into thinking, creative adults, but our processes often send the wrong message.

I think there is a difference between (1) encouraging imagination and (2) nurturing creativity. Schools tend to focus on the latter at the expense of the former, which is what turns off most kids.

Imagination refers to wild flights of fancy, ideas that suggest "anything goes". These ideas are the most fun to play with, sometimes the most dangerous and scary too, but that's why imagination is so much fun, so outside of our mundane reality and existence. But when schools tell us to focus on the real and not on the imaginary, when they tell us to be practical, suddenly life becomes boring and our motivational engines sputter and die. All we want to do is sleep because we can't be our naturally wild and crazy selves any more.

But that's just imagination being curbed, which is not quite the same thing as creativity, though perhaps only one of creativity's more special ingredients. We define 'creativity' as 'out-of-the-box' thinking, but in order to achieve that level of intelligence, we need to know what's INSIDE the box first. That's what schools specialize in, putting students inside a package of social norms, rules, customs, expectations; wrapped in a common knowledge of science, math, languages, and occasionally humanities so that at whichever level we leave school at, we leave with a cohort of peers who know exactly what we know and so we all start out making lives for ourselves from the same, equal starting line. That's fair.

The assumption is that as long as we stay in the box, everything's nice, everything's safe and everything's fair. It's only a rare few who realise that it actually isn't, and they are the ones who start thinking 'outside-the-box', yes, the real creative ones.

Creativity (a.k.a. 'innovation') starts with dissatisfaction, and it seems that at JC level, only GP (and maybe elements of the Arts and Humanities) teaches that the world isn't perfect, that the world doesn't follow the rules that are supposed to work to keep society nice for everyone, that the world isn't fair in the way that math and the sciences with all their rules and formulae tell us it is. Just-follow-the-formula-and-everything-will-be-correct is nonsense in reality, but that's what's inside the box. It's a seductive message to be deluded by and take comfort in, but it's only the dissatisfied and unhappy who question the formulae and eventually become the creative ones.

Imagination, as I mentioned before, is a wild thing. Creativity is our ability to harness our imagination, tame it and make it go where we want it to go. We are creative when we can discipline our imagination, making it work for us. There's a riddle that goes, "what do you need to know before you can train a dog?" to which the answer is, "more than the dog!" That's where most of us are today, in the process of learning more than the dog, those of us who are looking to be creative in spite of our school experience.

Historic morning

College Sports Carnival was today. For the first time, our venue was ECP. Programme was simple; either sign up for a competitive 3 klik trot or a carefree 2 klik stroll on the beach.

As beings of remarkable foresight, June and I met Jojo and Derek for brekkie at McD's before our event. Inside, it was muffins, sausage, hot cakes and scrambled eggs. Outside, the rains swept over with sheets of wet. Just as we'd finished our meal, the word came round: Sports Carnival cancelled due to inclement weather.

Shortest Sports Carny in history. But it could also prove to have been an historic breakfast. The women have an idea which I think has lots of potential. More on that when things develop further.

Strange coincidence

WoW suddenly gets two mentions in the local news on the same day, being associated with the deaths of two promising young men in separate incidents. Both the army doctor and the undergrad were reported as accomplished WoW players, the former "one of the top 10 Warcraft players in Singapore and was among the top 100 in the world", the latter "suddenly threw himself into it with a vengeance, spending as much as six hours a day huddled in front of his PC."

Hope nobody gets too clever and attempts to assert a causual link between computer gaming and strange behaviour leading to deaths under mysterious circumstances. But it's just too convenient and tempting not to.

-----

On a separate note, congrats to the KIds, all of whom passed, ZH being our first ever 'Ace'! And it was great to be reunited with NBS, my partner in crime, again. We celebrated with a MOS and breathed a collective sigh of relief that we didn't let them down after all. Yay!

Who watched the Watchmen?

Me! Wow.

Yes, "Watchmen" the movie is based on a superhero graphic novel. Yes, there are odd-looking people in eyebrow-raising costumes walking among ordinary people in everyday dress. Yes, improbable gadgets are part of an arsenal of other impractical designs. They are there to remind us that this is a story about superheroes who live and struggle to co-exist in our imperfect world -- a world even their vaunted superpowers cannot help.

One feature that stands out in a movie of this genre is that there is no super-villain to fight. No arch-nemesis who plots world-domination that would give a team of superheroes a raison d'etre for their existence. The closest thing to one is a frail old man who has long given up his evil-suit and his evil ways, suffering from cancer and living off a meagre pension awaiting death.

The fact is, superheroes do not need a supervillain to trouble humankind. Superheroes themselves ARE sufficent trouble for us. They are us, flawed, psychologcally warped and twisted as we already are, but enhanced with superpowers. And really, the Watchmen individually don't have much by way of their powers to distinguish one hero from another. They are generally super strong, super fast, super tough, regardless of what name or costume they wear. When superpowers meet normal human strength, it is not a pretty sight. Bones break -- badly, blood spatters on contact. It's just a matter of degree.

In that sense, the Watchmen are a parallel of the Olympian gods and goddesses in Greek mythology, with their infighting and the spillover of that into the lives of mortal men. Some are amoral, like the Comedian who behaves much like the Joker would if he was on the side of law-enforcement, and whose murder begins the story. There are those who see the world in completely black-and-white terms, like the disturbed Rorschach, for whom good is good and evil must die a horrible death. And there are those whose powers far exceed those of human ken, like Dr Manhattan, confused about humanity's doings from his cosmic perspective. With heroes like these, who needs villains any more?

Nevertheless, they all feel responsible for the well-being of people, yet are hampered by their own human weaknesses and a sense of hopelessness that they can do nothing to stop human depravity from annihilating us all.

The world is on the brink of nuclear war, only hours away from The Button being pushed. With a supervillain, the solution is simple: beat up the bad guy, destroy his toys, save the world. But with superheroes vs (national) superpowers, the problem has become infinitely more complex; the solution perhaps more drastic than can be conscionable.

"Watchmen" does not promise brainless entertainment. The plot's throughline gets interrupted often with flashbacks adding little bits of exposition at a time. It's also disconcerting to watch the Watchmen not behave in the way we've come to expect from our heroes -- the mask only hides the face, but can't hide human nature lurking beneath the skin. And at the end, we, the audience are left to judge if in the use of power, even for the greater good, the end justifies the means.

Heavy stuff. Lots of dialogue; short, intense bursts of action; moral shocks and dilemmas to ponder over; nobility mixed in with a lot of nastiness; a movie that requires concentration and active reflection. Did I like it? Yes! But I felt quite drained after.

Sick? Leave!

If only our staff would follow the above advice, we might not be falling sick so often.

Today we had a lecture shared between Paul and Madam A. Coincidentally, both called in on medical leave, and we were stranded without a lecturer. It was a bit of a scramble, but Amy and I very quickly went through their notes and slides to cobble a lecture together on their behalf.

It's a bit strange going over other people's materials because there are often blanks and knowledge gaps that the speakers' would fill in on their own through a personal anecdote, aside, POV, or some visual material to present. Occasionally we stand-ins may not agree with a point here and there, or we feel that we have better material to illustrate it. So over brekkie we got me prepped to take the mike and pinch lecture for our absent colleagues.

When I got down to the LT, Madam A was already there, breaking her curfew. Somehow, she had got wind that we had no lecturer and so she made her way to campus -- croaky voice and all -- to take back the mike that was rightfully hers. One hour later, after having delivered her lecture and cleansing her conscience, we promptly chased her off campus.

There's something about our college that makes us want to pitch in and do whatever it takes to get our jobs done. There's a certain pride we take in doing a good piece of work. It's part ownership and part not letting the team down, and part because we have a strong belief in the rightness of what we are doing. And as Amy once pointed out, we aren't a calculating people either.

But we do need to take better  care of our health too.

New vocab: "Sidebarring"

I thought Professional Development (PD) was sort of exclusive to us? It seems we have copied from the Americans again, along with the problems that go with it... being that teachers make the worst students. Click here.

I will survive

Again, not much time other than to post a few links. CNN's got this series on people who are finding ways to survive this economic downturn and it seems like a good time to share some good news amidst the gloom so here goes:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/news/0902/gallery.optimism/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/02/26/economy.survivor.farm/index.html

To survive the lousy economy occasionally means forgoing our squeamishness for a regular paycheck
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/02/27/topless.coffee.shop/index.html

And distributing what would otherwise be wasted to people who really need it, gratis
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/03/01/ship.to.shelter/index.html

And a story from China!

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/25/china.lifeonline/index.html

An enlightened 21st century robot employer

I am no technophobe. This is the 21st century and I own a robot. It keeps my floor clean, not perfectly but adequately.

I can't help anthropomorphosizing (omg, a 20-letter word!) it. When I push its activation button, it make a cheery beeping sound and backs out of its charging unit all busy and anxious to get to work. It bumps around blindly as it crosses and recrosses the floor picking up bits of debris as it goes.

It's a rudimentary trial-and-error function but it's persistent enough to get the job done. I'm even forgiving of the occasional missed spots -- considering that it works more like a child's toy than an actual intelligent machine, I'm surprised it can deliver the results that it does.

I even worry for it when it starts to lose its charge. When that happens, it will home in on a radio signal the charging base sends out to guide it back to safety and sustenance. But it becomes a game of "hot and cold" as the robot continues to bump around the room trying to locate the signal, sometimes getting close only to be bumped away when it hits a wall or some other obstacle in its path. Will it ever make it back in time before its batteries deplete completely? It's painful to watch, and I have to resist the urge to pick it up and carry it home myself when at times it looks so hopelessly lost.

But so far, the only times it has failed to find its way home was once when we accidentally switched off the charging base (duh) and another time when it jammed on a dishrag that had inadvertently fallen to the floor. But otherwise, it's always been at the last minute able to find the correct vector and go home on its own. As it docks, it chirps its relief, then settles down for a nice quiet nosh until we call it out for duty again, usually the next day.

That's my little robot, my almost fifth pet. So if that's how I'm like with robots as an enlightened 21st century robot employer, then why does the US Army's "Big Dog" send a shiver of fear down my spine?

How to make a class keep quiet

One guaranteed way to kill a debate is by participating in it. At least, that's what's happened to the "education" thread in my kids' blogs. Try to be too clever, and they don't know how to respond after that. So I'm holding my peace in the thread on Law and Society, quietly observing as more and more of them start contributing to the discussion. It's fun to watch them pitch their theories at each other as they work out among themselves whether the Law makes Society, or if it's Society that makes the Law. When they get sufficiently confused and ask for my input, then I'll throw in my two cents. I have no wish to end yet another promising webchat prematurely.

Take a break

With so much work backlog, I only have time to post a quick link, which under the circumstances I think is quite appropriate: kids -- even big 'uns like me -- need RECESS! Fortunately, I have colleagues who believe in it as much as I do too.

We want to know the Truth

I happen to be pontificating again, so I'll just do a little copy-and-paste here as I respond to a couple of questions from the blogs of a couple of my current kids. Context: they're asking about the need for them to study hard in school because the end result as they see it is just a paper qualification that they are unlikely to make use of when they start a totally unrelated career [like maybe once the recession is over].

My response is a bit airy-fairy, a bit philosophical, but I only hope to provoke more questions to prolong an already interesting online debate. Here goes:

"We study because we want to know the Truth, and if we can't get the Truth immediately, we need to learn the tools we can use to discover the Truth for ourselves.

Why is the Truth so important? Knowing the Truth means you cannot be lied to, cannot be cheated or manipulated to do other people's bidding. Knowing the Truth sets you free, indeed.

Do we need a rigorous education system? Absolutely. The Truth is a slippery devil, and knowing the Truth will not always make us happy. So you have to be prepared to uncover the Truth and to deal with it when you find it.

Schools present truths (broken up into the different subjects) in their purest form. The longer you stay in school (right up to post-degree level), the more practice you get in discerning Truth from mere truths. Hence, it's a lot easier to become an empowered person through the school system than in any other environment because the school focuses its energy on EXAMining the Truth more so than anywhere else.

Sadly, most people go to the university just to get a degree they won't know what to do with when they graduate, when there is so much more education has to offer.

I'm actually a believer in education for education's sake. Our big mistake is to be rushing through the "system" and by doing so we take a lot of short cuts in the learning process.

If we examine the word "study" we see a process taking place in our minds: we observe (something... let's say a subject topic) -> we analyse it (break it apart to see what it's made of and how it works) -> we experiment (put it back together in new ways to see how it might behave differently in new and different forms) -> we apply (see connections between what we have just learned and what we already know in order to understand future implications) -> and when we are able to connect both prior knowledge and our new knowledge, that's when memory kicks in.

But because we are all in a rush to become paper qualified, we skip all the middle bits and what we end up with is students struggling to memorise a load of material that is new and unfamiliar because there's a test coming up tomorrow. That is no longer by definition "studying", that's just donkey work.

I know you don't have time, but I really hope you pick up one thing (just one) from our GP sessions: to stop doing donkey work and learn to study for real."

Oh dear, I just hope I haven't killed the ongoing debate. This looks like quite a chunk of text for the kids to wade through.

Brave soldier

Oh, the drama of it all! While taking down his club's recruitment poster, Josh falls off his stepladder and bangs up his elbow good. Refusing to trouble anybody, he takes a cab to the hospital on his own. Diagnosis: dislocated right elbow, slight fracture in his arm. Doc gives him 10 days' medical leave, and the next thing he does is show up back at work, arm in cast and sling, claiming to all and sundry that he'd rather return to campus to face the daily chaos than stay home and face the wall for the next 10 days.

He has a point there. A lot of our experience at work can be quite highly therapeutic. We're busy and occupied the whole day, our friends and other silly people are within a quick SMS away for a little break and general entertainment to break up the monotony of the day, and really the atmosphere is a lot more livening than an isolation ward at home. So I fully understand his reluctance to stay off campus, even though I and many other colleagues berated him fully for not taking care of himself by going home to recuperate from his rather serious injury.

The end of the matter came when he was banned from darkening our doors again by the P himself, so there's nothing more to be said about that.

Poor Josh. Take care of that elbow, keep it immobilized, rest well and recover soon!

Alvin gets hitched

And now a big Congrats! to Alvin on his long anticipated wedding. Here he is, just about to pop his champaign bottle, and his expression says it all. There's happiness mixed in with excitement and a little tense anxiety in not knowing when exactly the inevitable explosion of pressured fizz will occur, other than any second now.

I dunno, I'm just trying to find some significance to the champaign pouring ritual that Wayne's co-MC explained at length in Mandarin, but Wayne himself was unable to provide the requisite translation for us non-Chinese-speaking folks.

Anyway, I gotta thank Alvin for the invite. His dinner at the Grand Copthorne Harbourfront was an enjoyable Chinese 8-course. Notable dishes include the shark's fin soup (please no environmentalist commentary here -- I don't know if it was faux fin, so I'm assuming it was) with larger than usual chunks of crab meat in it; a lovely pomfret in some kind of veggie soup; a voluptous chicken, "pipa" style; an odd package of glutinous rice that tasted better than it looked; and a standard mango pud that was delicious simply because it was familiar.

Sorry to say our table was a clear split between dNYel folks and a bunch of guys I surmise were Alvin's chums from who knows where. We shared the table like we were at a crowded food court, except that we picked from the same dishes. Didn't need to get to know them any better as I was already in the presence of good company. 

Pix of said good company: click here.

El Cheapos go to the spa

June and I are taking up el cheapo spa treatments as they are offered to us through credit card promotions. Spas entice first-time tryouts with low trial prices, then hit us with a package deal after the initial treatment is over. But we've been good so far, holding our ground and refusing to sign anything, no matter how competitive the pricing sounds like.

Perhaps for me, the novelty has worn off some. I could not get my mind to relax at today's treatment. Usually, a good rub-down sends me off to zzz-land but all I could think about was work. I don't mean I am being unusually stressed out by my job and I have things in particular to fret over; I mean I was thinking about how to respond to some very good questions a couple of my kids have posed me about the nature of the Law in society. It was a juicy bone my inner bulldog would not let go of.

So the masseuse was having a hard time getting me kneaded down into the compliant jelly that I like to become by the end of a good session. Nevertheless, I think she did a great job on my shoulders, neck and back; and she did find a nasty sore spot in my left calf -- probably the result of standing for too many hours favouring one leg over the other. Hazard of my profession, I suppose.

Final score: top marks to the massuese for treating individual body parts, but sadly, not so high on my overall sense of well-being. It may not have been her fault, but my mind was just too busy to enjoy all the good things she was doing to me.

We continue not signing spa packages...

Back in familiar territory

M2's home from the shop at last! I never got used to driving the Altis, but now I'm back in familiar old territory again. M2's acceleration is a bit more gradual and he doesn't brake as abruptly. The one thing I'll miss about the Altis, though, is the air-conditioning -- chills the interior in seconds whereas M2's is little more than just ventilation on hot days.

Jack, my contact at the 'shop had some words of wisdom for me: "Sometimes you hit people, sometimes people hit you. Driving's like that." Gee, thanks.

Vanity, all is vanity

Well, this was inevitable. A shot of the "new" Altis taken by the new Samsung camera/cell-phone. Yes, pix is a bit blurry. Still working out some of the kinks.

Replacement Altis

M2's gone to the shop. Meantime, I've picked up a rental Altis provided by the shop. It feels odd to drive a strange car that's a little longer and lower that the one I'm used to. It has a rather mechanical feel to it, like it's operating on pure muscle power -- say, that of 50,000 rabid hamsters running under the hood. The brakes are so responsive, I'm pretty sure it's been especially tuned to accommodate twitchy drivers, whose nerves are slowly recovering from a recent vehicle collision.

That's good, 'cos by the time I get M2 back on Friday, the tic behind my left eye should have completely gone.

Conspicuous consumption

Old cell phone on the fritz -- after just over a year. Not receiving sound, though I believe whomever I'm talking to can hear my frustrated "hello, hello..."

Went with emotion instead of good sense and sprung for a Samsung SGH-F480. Doh, and I wonder why I'm always broke.

Happy bumpday!

Siiiigggghhh...! My poor, longsuffering M2 picked up a new ding in yet another traffic light incident. I swear, traffic lights cause as many road mishaps as they are supposed to prevent.

I am already stationary, waiting for the lights to turn green. They turn green and I wait for the car in front of me to move, but the guy behind me doesn't. His blue Jazz shoves its nose right up M2's butt causing a dent and a scratch on my rear door. He loses his licence plate, mine is still intact, though slightly bent.

At this point, I'm pretty philosophical. No one's hurt and our damage looks merely cosmetic. So we calmly trade personal particulars and will let IDAC and our respective insurances settle for us in the morning.

Meantime, I've got my folks and Aunt Shirls in the back seat. We're celebrating Mom's 70th with a grand seafood buffet at Aquamarine, Marina Mandarin. The bump at the lights did not spoil anybody's mood or appetite. With the USA half-shell oysters on offer, so fresh and so delicious ("tasting of the sea", June says), they proved more than a balm to soothe ruffled feathers, if there were any. And that was just the starter.

Aquamarine was also a good choice 'cos they gave us privileged seating, and a complementary chocolate truffle birthday cake (as in the pix above) and parking because of the special occasion. And 10% off for UOB cardholders.

Happy 70th, Mom!

dNYel's Big Day

dNYel's big day has finally come to an end. All the running around the past few weeks and the last spurt of frenzied activity over the past few days have come to quite a satisfactory conclusion, and I can finally look at this weekend with only "dinner" pencilled onto the calendar.

We themed Get Ed! day to focus on the mass media industry. We roped in speakers and guests from the press (broadcast and print), media academics (local and foreign), a local activist blogger, a psych, the Authorities, and a couple of other media interest groups to discuss industry issues in "breakout sessions" with the whole college. A local talk radio station set up a forum in LT3 to chat about "advertising", broadcast 'live' on air; while on our part I was thoroughly impressed with Madam A who ran with my idea for her to host a talk show (I once had a convincing vision of her as a talk show host and I spoke aloud about it) and she went whole hog, interviewing the queen of TV talk shows, Diana S, herself, on the "Terror Blanks Show" which she hosted in LT2.

Me, I got my own shot as Jeopardy! host, sans Sean Connery and his shenanigans, fortunately.

Why am I writing so much detail? 'cos I've been tasked to do a write-up of the event's more innovative aspects for Kevin's committee, and I need to remind myself who to interview for their side of the story.

In what was to become a very long day, we had reps from the three Universities' admissions boards to discuss entry requirements with the kids and their parents in the evening. We are very gratified that the Unis themselves have spoken on the issue that good grades are definitely not enough to guarantee entry. Rather, applicants need qualifying grades but must "stand out from the crowd" through their personalities, their activities outside of the curriculum, and their general and current affairs knowledge in one or more interviews with the Unis they are applying to.

This is good to hear because this is exactly what our GP programme aims to train the kids in. We feel much more validated now. 

Setting up for Jeopardy!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is... Jeopardy! And tomorrow is your's truly's big debut as a game show host for the JC1s. I consider yesterday's run with the JC2s as just a rehearsal.

This afternoon, we set up LT1 with CL's electric buzzer and scoreboard system, so the place really looks like a skeletal version of a TV studio set. Well, perhaps like one in some developing nation with an ambition to explore high technology in its near future, anyway.

Coincidentally, I found the above video clip about how TV's Jeopardy! has changed over the years. LT1 today is a hybrid of ancient marker-pen and current networked technologies. It's a little Frankenstein monster I can proudly call my own -- at least until the real Jeopardy! lawyers come a-callin'. Bwa ha ha!

Sums up the week

I began an email I sent today as follows:

"One thing I love about my job is the constant practice in juggling conflicting requirements and coming up with desperate, if not creative solutions to keep the show running. And I always thought I was never any good at improv."

That kinda' sums up the week I'm having. And it's only Tuesday.

The robots are coming!

This is typical cat behaviour. 1st, check to see if the newcomer is at all a) edible, or b) bully-able.

Maui gets a new playmate, and the playmate collects a new toy.

After some getting used to each other, Maui and the Roomba are new best friends.

May picked up a Roomba for us on her travels. With all the fur, fluff and whatnot sloughing off our pets, and forming a daily layer of sediment on the floorboards, we simply cannot spare the time to keep our place neatly vacuumed all the time.

Solution: let a robot from iRobot do it for us while we're out at work so that the house is pristine by the time we come home. Enter the Roomba 560, electronic self-directed dustbuster extraordinaire! Battery-operated, it circles our floor and sucks up all the pets' sheddings. When it gets low on power it automatically docks itself with its charging bay for a nom, and then it's ready to go again, if that's what we want.

May gave it an initial charging while in the US, and on that single charge it performed quite a satisfactory job in our living and dining rooms. But to charge it again, Tong will be helping us to find an adaptor that can tansform our current (240V) to a voltage its American tastes are more accustomed to (110V). Until then, its initial charge expended, it's temporarily dormant while it awaits its next meal.

The Roomba isn't capable of miracles, though. It's a lot faster to do our vacuuming manually, and it misses the occasional spot, but that could be perhaps due to Maui messing with its operations as he tries to play with his new friend. But since we expect it to be working while we're out, it should be able to get most of the floor clean by the time we get back. For us, that's good enough.

Cool! My 1st Robot.

Teachers behaving badly

What would the kids say if they ever saw their so-respectable teachers behaving like kindergarten children while playing 4-player "Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party" on a Wii? On that rather disturbing thought, thanks, Amy, for arranging tonight's fabulously hilarious CNY steam-boat dinner!

To say we had fun would be an understatement. :D

Hi, NBS and HP! Glad y'all could make the party too!

Life at the Improv

Improv games can be quite intimidating to have to engage in. Tina is making the kids do a lot of improv as a means to workshop and devise scenes from completely unrehearsed scenarios.

It's both amusing and annoying when the kids try to "take control" of the "situations" they find themselves in. They will gather for a chat about who is supposed to do what to create the scene, sort of mentally rehearsing their scene before they play it out. What's amusing is their elevated stress levels as they plan and project; what's annoying is that instead of watching a scene, the audience only sees a gaggle of kids huddling in a circle trying to decide what "should" be.

While there is a time and place for meeting and planning, much of what happens in life is unexpected and unrehearsed and it's important for us to improv through many potentially ridiculous situations in which "should" goes out the window in favour of "is".

Improv works when the players simply respond to whatever probable or improbable proposition is made to them through their fellow players. If someone suggests there is a giant spider behind their backs, the other players will accept such and move the scene along by simply responding to the fact. But scenes grind to a halt when certain players start dictating how the other players "should" react, or when players dispute the offer -- basically going into denial.

We play the same game in life. Much of what we encounter are unrehearsed scenes where the only rule is to accept the offer (good or bad, happy or sad, etc.) and move the scene along. Where we mess up in life is when we try to control the uncontrollable, or when we deny the probablilty or even the justice of what is happening to us.

Remember, our job is to move the scene along. Failure is when we bring our scene to a grinding halt.

When evil is evil, and good is clueless

The first movie I pick to watch this year was an orgy of of gore and senseless violence. It's about killing with perfunctory efficiency using small-arms, blades, and whatever else within grabbing range that can send a guy to meet his maker without the fuss and bother of a fair trial before a jury of his peers.

Enough clues? Yes, I watched "Punisher: War Zone", featuring everyone's favourite Marvel non-super non-hero psychopath, the Punisher. And the preceding paragraph roughly summarizes the plot.

This is by no means a critique of the movie. I take my hat off to director, Lexi Alexander, who courageously dispenses with a long, convoluted plot and opts in favour of dropping us straight into the world as Frank Castle himself views it: war with no end, any threat to the innocent is expeditiously removed because the good don't have a clue how to take care of themselves.

The only complication Castle finds himself in is that sometimes we can't immediately tell good from evil, and he has to come to terms with a mistake he makes while pursuing his own course of justice.

P:WZ is no summer blockbuster. I'm glad it doesn't even pretend to be. An acquired taste, then, and definitely not meant for everyone. There are few high points and even then, few as they are, they are tinged with uneasiness. There are "funny" moments, though we laugh only because there's no other way to deal with the brutality of the dispatch. There's a sense of, "Yes! Justice!", but at the same time, "OmG, what a way to go."

Welcome to the world of the Punisher. Thankfully for most of us, we don't live there.

Darwin Award candidate

Something should be done about dangerous barriers

I WISH to highlight the dangerous crossing for pedestrians walking to Thomson Plaza from Jasmine Road.

There is a side road at Thomson Plaza, near the Starbucks outlet. It has four lanes, one for cars and taxis to enter, one for cars to exit the carpark, and two for trade vehicles to enter and exit the delivery area.

There are two barriers across the lanes for trade vehicles and a zebra crossing across the other two lanes. As the traffic there can be heavy, most people use the zebra crossing. But one must negotiate the lanes for trade vehicles before reaching the crossing.

Recently, as I was walking to Thomson Plaza, I decided to go through the lanes for trade vehicles to get to the zebra crossing. One barrier was down while the other was up. It was about 1pm and there were no security guards stationed there. As I walked between the two barriers, one came down and hit my head.

I stumbled into Thomson Plaza for help and sought medical attention at a clinic. The doctor who attended to me told me that she too had been hit by the barrier, but that her umbrella had shielded her from the blow.

I wrote to the mall's management on Dec 21, five days after the accident, to ask them to rectify the problem. I have not received a reply.

Clarice Tan (Mrs)

(STI online Forum, 2 February 2009)

-------------------

Madam

The injury to your head must have been quite serious for you to be raising via the local dailies this oversight of due diligence. One possible countermeasure to prevent a repeat occurrence of this eventuality is to avoid walking under raised barriers altogether. This simple and basic precaution has saved thousands of heads from similar Blunt Force Trauma attempts committed by such wayward barriers as you have had the misfortune to encounter, and millions of dollars in medical fees thereafter.

You raise a legitimate concern regarding the lack of security guards stationed at the barriers. The emergence of sensor-equipped automatic barriers has completely eradicated the need for a manual labourer to perform this operation, forcing yet another uncle to undergo retraining in order to find alternative employment. Perhaps you'll be good enough and employ one to hold an umbrella above your head while you go strolling to the mall from now on?

Nevertheless, we must make allowances for some people who insist on swimming in the crocodile pond even after seeing the lifeguard on duty being devoured. To them, we present an award for thinning the gene pool, hence making the future safer for our descendants.